Friday, July 17th 2009, 4:00 AM
Lombard for News: Councilmember Maria del Carmen Arroyo.
Hours after Councilman Miguel Martinez admitted being a thief, prosecutors and investigators emphasized their inquiry into City Council slush money was far from over.
Already on their radar screen is Bronx Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo.
Like Martinez, Arroyo funneled hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars from the slush fund into a nonprofit controlled by relatives.
The relative was her nephew, Richard Izquierdo, and the nonprofit was the South Bronx Community Corp. Last month Izquierdo was arrested for stealing money from an SBCC affiliate.
The charges included using funds from the nonprofit to pay for flights to Puerto Rico and other warm locales for Arroyo and her mother - and Izquierdo's grandmother - Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo.
Izquierdo also had the nonprofit supply a new floor for the assemblywoman's Bronx office, a criminal complaint said.
Before Martinez's plea, the DOI investigation netted two aides to Brooklyn Councilman Kendall Stewart. Both pleaded guilty last month to stealing $145,000 from a nonprofit Stewart subsidized from the Council slush fund.
Stewart has not been charged and has denied knowing anything about what his aides did with the money.
No comments:
Post a Comment