7 Eyewitness News has learned exclusively that a federal grand jury has been empaneled to hear testimony about possible "criminal activities" at Niagara County Community College.
Witnesses are expected to provide testimony in the next month about an alleged bid-rigging scandal involving President James P. Klyczek and the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute.
The legal action stems from a 7 Eyewitness News investigation that first revealed bidding procedures that appeared to favor certain companies with ties to school officials for millions of dollars in public contracts.
Despite that investigation, the college Board of Trustees voted to keep Klyczek as president. He makes more than $200,000 per year and also reaps other generous taxpayer benefits while he remains in power.
But agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been seeking information about that scandal and any other actions that may rise to the level of criminality, according to a source.
The grand jury is expected to hear testimony in downtown Buffalo. Previously, the U.S. Attorney's Office issued a subpoena to the college for all documents relating to the bidding of the $30 million project in downtown Niagara Falls.
"We don't confirm or deny investigations and we do not talk about matters of the grand jury," U.S. Attorney's spokeswoman Barbara Burns said Tuesday.
The college Board of Trustees meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Administration Building on the Sanborn campus for a monthly meeting, although it is expected to be anything but "regular."
A growing contingent of concerned faculty and community members have planned a rally in the lobby of the Administration Building to urge the board to remove Klyczek and install new leadership at the college.
