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| Still More Corruption Investigations |
(IRN) -- It's not over yet. That's the word from the U.S. attorney about anongoing investigation focused on political corruption.
"Operation Board Games" kicked off in December 2003 as U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald started investigating allegations of fraud and extortion in two boards, the Health Facilities Planning Board and the Teachers Retirement System. In all, 15 people have been indicted in the course of the investigation. Fitzgerald says the operation remains ongoing.
"I would say that Operation Board Games is open as we still have a trial to go," Fitzgerald said, referring to the trial of William Cellini, who is accused of shaking people down for campaign contributions for Blagojevich. Other big names nabbed in Board Games are fundraiser Tony Reko, Stuart Levine and Ed Vrdolyak.
In Blagojevich's case, Fitzgerald was asked why he had FBI agents arrest Blagojevich when they did, not waiting for an actual exchange take place for an appointment t the U.S. Senate. He says his office isn't there to just prosecute criminals, but to stop crimes before they happen. "I think we would’ve kicked ourselves and other should've rightly kicked us, if we sat around and watched the Senate seat be sold."
Asked if there will be an investigation into who initially leaked information to the Chicago Tribune that Blagojevich was being recorded by the FBI, Fitzgerald said he couldn't go into detail. "What's unclear is exactly where the information came from," Fitzgerald said. "I'm not assuming there's a leak. What I'm simply saying is there was a story in the newspaper that would indicate there was an investigation going on. Whether that came from someone outside or inside of the government, I don't know, but I would not be the person to determine that."
Blagojevich was found guilty on 17 of 20 counts by jurors on Monday.
(Illinois Radio Network) |
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| 06 28 11 by Newsroom |
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