What follows is a statement issued Friday by Jeff Karp, president and co-founder of LAZ Parking, which was sued on Thursday by the MBTA. Here is the CommonWealth story on the lawsuit.

We were surprised and disappointed to receive the MBTA’s lawsuit yesterday.  Since the potential theft by former employees was discovered several months ago we have been fully engaged and cooperative with all state authorities in an effort to identify the nature and extent of the alleged theft. We have engaged in a multitude of conversations and meetings, performed forensic audits as the MBTA requested, and voluntarily shared thousands of pages of documents and other information.

We have always said we will fully accept our share of any responsibility, as Laz does with all contracts and customers. Both Laz and the MBTA oversee the systems and procedures established by the agency to collect parking revenues.

I am proud of Laz’s commitment to its customers and proud of our hard-working employees. The actions of rogue employees are in no way representative of our company or our workers. Our attorneys will file the company’s reply in court, both to defend ourselves from exorbitant claims and to hold the MBTA responsible for its own actions.

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