A now-fired SF Department of Building Inspection inspector was just found guilty of violating conflict-of-interest laws, by approving permits for properties that it turned out were actually owned by his parents.

Anyone who’s read this website since 2020 knows that there has been an endless parade of guilty verdicts against SF city officials since the Mohammed Nuru scandal broke that year. And the city department that’s probably had the largest number of criminal charges has been the Department of Building Inspection (DBI), which was not Nuru’s department, but was shown through the Nuru investigations to be a work environment where inspectors getting bribes was rather shockingly commonplace.

There were also other fishy behaviors by DBI inspectors that have come to light since, including one case in late 2023 where an inspector was found to be approving permits for his own home, as well as permits for his parents’ properties. That inspector Van Zeng was fired from the DBI when this came to light, and faced criminal conflict-of-interest charges in early 2024.

And now the Chronicle reports that Zeng has been found guilty of those conflict-of-interest charges in a verdict that came down Monday. Zeng had not only granted permits to his father’s construction company Mutual Seiko Construction, he had also worked for Mutual Seiko Construction right up until the time he was hired by the DBI.

San Francisco’s conflict-of-interest laws bar employees from making decisions from which they can personally benefit, and that includes decisions benefiting one’s immediate previous employer.

“San Franciscans entrust public employees to do their jobs responsibly with integrity and not engage in self-serving behavior,” SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in  a statement after the verdict. “When public employees engage in this kind of behavior they erode the public’s trust and confidence in government and must be held accountable.”   

Zeng is scheduled to be sentenced April 23, and could face up to a year in jail. Though his attorney tells the Chronicle he does not expect jail time, as the counts on which Zeng was found guilty are just misdemeanors. 

Related: Two More SF DBI Inspectors Charged With Bribery and Shaking People Down for Permits [SFist]

Image: SF DBI