ayor Rahm Emanuel's administration has sued Chicago's former red light camera operator, Redflex Traffic Systems, for more than $300 million on grounds the entire program was built on a $2 million bribery scheme at City Hall that has already led to federal corruption convictions.

According to court filings unsealed late last week, the Emanuel administration has joined forces with a former executive vice president at Redflex who says he helped orchestrate the scheme under orders from his bosses. The city moved earlier in August to intervene as a plaintiff in a whistleblower case filed under seal by the fired executive, Aaron Rosenberg, in Cook County Circuit Court more than a year ago.

The embattled program, which has raised more than $500 million in traffic fines since it began in 2003, has been beset with oversight failures, unfair ticketing practices and corruption allegations exposed by a series of Tribune investigations that began three years ago. Redflex's former chief executive Karen Finley pleaded guilty Aug. 20 in a conspiracy to bribe a former top city transportation executive who she says helped steer the contract to the company.

That official, John Bills, is set to stand trial in federal court in January.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/watchdog/redlight/ct-chicago-sues-red-light-camera-firm-met-20150831-story.html