Ex-San Francisco official tasked with cleaning up filthy streets awaits sentence on corruption, bribe scandal

Former director of San Francisco Department of Public Works Mohammed Nuru faces sentencing Thursday

A former San Francisco official tasked with cleaning up the city’s filthy streets is expected to be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to a widespread corruption scandal that involved accepting bribes of money, lavish vacations and luxury goods while the city infrastructure and residents suffered.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday about an apparent scandal after a current San Francisco Public Works official used department letterhead in requesting leniency for the department’s disgraced former chief, Mohammed Nuru, ahead of Thursday’s sentencing by Judge William Orrick.

Nuru, the former San Francisco Department of Public Works director, pleaded guilty in January to honest services wire fraud. He had faced a 79-page indictment in January 2020 charging him with public corruption and describing a long-running scheme involving multiple bribes and kickbacks during his long-running tenure from 2011 until the charges were first announced against him.