Former Ald. Ed Burke in federal court before U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall on Nov. 16, 2023. (WTTW News)

Federal prosecutors are still days away from resting their case against former Ald. Ed Burke and his co-defendants, but jurors on Monday heard for the first time from a defense witness in the landmark corruption trial.

In an unusual move, Gabriella Garcia-Martinez, a firm administrator with Burke’s property tax practice, was allowed to testify Monday while the prosecution’s case is ongoing because she is set to undergo a medical procedure that would make her unavailable for the remainder of the trial.

Her testimony came in regards to the $800 million renovation of the Old Post Office, which Burke is accused of holding up while attempting to force those doing business with the city to hire his private law firm.

Garcia-Martinez testified that she met Burke — whom she described as “serious, but kind” — in 2001 and began working at his 14th Ward office as a clerk before eventually moving into a role at the law firm, which was then known as Klafter & Burke.

The firm installed a “conflict screening process” in 2011, according to Garcia-Martinez, which required staffers to go through City Hall meeting agendas line-by-line to ensure that Burke did not vote in his official capacity as alderperson in any matters involving the firm’s clients.

“It was names of people, companies, any property addresses and any PIN numbers,” she said.

Garcia-Martinez said this process was incredibly stressful and took one to three days per month, but they found matches nearly every time they screened new agendas.

“We wanted to make sure that we didn’t miss anything,” she testified.

Prosecutors have alleged Burke identified the $800 million renovation of the Old Post Office, which needed an $18 million subsidy and a tax break worth $100 million from the city to move forward, as an opportunity to force the developer to hire his law firm.

Burke allegedly pledged to kick back a portion of the spoils to then-25th Ward Ald. Danny Soils in exchange for the Zoning Committee’s approval.

While Burke didn’t get tax appeal work at Old Post Office, 601 West Companies — the company that bought and redeveloped the site — did eventually offer Klafter & Burke work at another Chicago property: the Sullivan Center.

And despite the conflict screening process, Garcia-Martinez admitted on cross examination that Burke never informed her he’d had discussions with 601 West about tax appeal work for the Sullivan Center. She also stated that Burke wasn’t bound by her findings if she discovered a conflict of interest.

Burke faces 14 criminal charges in his landmark corruption trial, including racketeering, bribery and extortion. He’s being tried alongside his former aide Peter Andrews and businessman Charles Cui.

Ald. Ed Burke, right, sits inside a Burger King restaurant at 41st Street and Pulaski Road during a meeting with the restaurant’s owners in June 2017. (U.S. Attorney’s Office)

Testimony on Monday morning returned to Burke’s alleged scheme to shakedown the owners of a Burger King restaurant in his ward to secure property tax work for Klafter & Burke during a remodeling project in 2017. 

Zohaib Dhanani, president of the Burger King division of the Dhanani Group — owns the Burger King at 41st Street and Pulaski Road and around 150 fast food restaurants across Illinois — began testifying about the remodeling project Monday afternoon.

His father, Shoukat Dhanani, the head of the Dhanani Group, testified last month that he believed Burke intentionally held up the remodeling project in late 2017 because he hadn’t hired Burke’s property tax law firm.

On Monday, Jimmy Wachaa, who worked as an asset manager for the Dhanani Group, testified that in 2018, when Dhanani instructed him to send property tax work for 10-20 restaurants to Burke’s firm, he ultimately declined to do so.

The Dhanani Group already had a firm handling its property tax appeals and Wachaa believed they were better off continuing with that company.

“I had my reservations and I was very happy with the tax consultant we were working with at the time,” Wachaa testified, saying that he didn’t believe Klafter & Burke could provide them with the “speed, accuracy and organization” they were already getting.

Asked on cross examination why he decided to defy an order from his boss, Wachaa said he opted to go with his “gut feeling” on the situation. Wachaa also testified he believed Burke wanted to handle property tax work for all of the Dhanani Group’s restaurants in Illinois.

Ultimately, the business never did contract with Klafter & Burke for any work.

Before proceedings got underway Monday, one of the 12 seated jurors was excused from the case due to an undisclosed health issue. An alternate juror was then selected to take her place.

The trial is expected to conclude later this month.

Contact Matt Masterson: @ByMattMasterson | [email protected] | (773) 509-5431