Gandhi Works on Image Control

But it is his standing in the Indian American community that is most dear to him. Today, Indians are among the largest minority groups in the region, and Gandhi, who came to the United States in 1965 from Bombay for graduate school in Atlanta, was among the first. He has become one of the highest-ranking Indians in Washington area politics, regularly lending time to boost political activism in the community and raise money for causes such as aid to battered women and earthquake relief.

Mital Gandhi, 29, who runs a Washington communications business and is no relation to the finance chief, said Natwar Gandhi is considered a pioneer by his Indian brethren because his stature proved that they could succeed politically in the United States. The scandal is disheartening, he said, but members of the community are rooting for Natwar Gandhi to rebound.

Sanjay Puri, 46, executive director of the U.S.-India Political Action Committee, who met Gandhi seven years ago, said the tax scandal has been tough on him, then adds: "He cares deeply. If he didn't care, he'd say, 'Okay, let me get out of here. Find someone else to do it.' "

At his bare-bones studio condominium in Northwest Washington, Gandhi has Indian artwork and tapestries. Pictures of his literary and political heroes hang on the walls: George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Koestler, T.S. Eliot, Bertrand Russell and Mohandas Gandhi.

The condo, which Gandhi bought in 2000 to satisfy the city's residency requirement, serves as a crash pad, with a double bed and a small television on a crate. His wife resides at the four-bedroom home in Silver Spring they have owned since 1976; they have two adult children.

Gandhi had spent two decades in the General Accounting Office when he was hired by then-financial chief Anthony A. Williams to run the District's tax office in 1997 after Congress created the independent agency. The city was hundreds of million of dollars in debt and had junk bond ratings on Wall Street. Three years later, Gandhi became financial chief, and the District had a $1.5 billion surplus and A+ bond ratings last year.

Yet within the ranks of his 1,200-person agency are those who say Gandhi has grown aloof, more concerned with garnering good media attention than improving operations. (On the day authorities announced the tax bust in November, Gandhi attended an awards banquet as one of Governing magazine's public officials of the year.)

Current and former employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from Gandhi or their current employers, described a culture in which Gandhi, ensconced in his second-floor suite at the Wilson Building, rarely visited their offices. They referred to his top advisers as the "Palace Guard," whose duties were to protect him from criticism, cover up mistakes and burnish his image.

In the meantime, they said, Gandhi for years ignored internal warnings about the Integrated Tax System, which has shared blame for failing to reveal the scheme in which two tax office workers and their accomplices allegedly created up to $50 million in bogus tax refunds.

There have been other red flags, including one last month, when, in an unrelated scam, federal authorities charged a tax office worker with creating $180,000 in false income tax refunds for her boyfriend. Gandhi said it was his team that found the fraud, proof that internal controls are working.

"There are 1,200 people working throughout the government in the CFO cluster," he said. "The question is whether there is a culture of corruption. That is somewhat of an exaggeration. This all gets magnified in light of the other thing."

Speculation abounds about his future, including talk that he will retire and be replaced by City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. Gandhi, who has a five-year contract, discounted it.

Lately, he said, he has been working on a third volume of poetry. The first two dealt with his "love affair with America," but the latest is on his growing disillusionment.

Gandhi went on to talk about the country's war in Iraq and the misuse of power, but it was easy to imagine him thinking of something more personal.