Inquiry into Commission Cuomo Shut Down Yields No Charges

No charges will be brought as a result of an inquiry into the Moreland Commission.

According to the New York Times, Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said there was not enough evidence to prove a federal crime was committed.

That lets Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Mount Kisco resident, off the hook for possible obstruction of justice or witness tampering charges.

Cuomo had no immediate comment, the Times said, but his counsel, Elkan Abramowitz thanked Bharara’s office for saying no charges would be brought.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino expressed his disappointment in Bharara’s statement and reiterated his call for an independent prosecutor to investigate whether state laws were broken.

Here is Astorino’s statement:

“In shutting the Moreland Commission last year, just as it was discovering criminal evidence against his ‘two amigos’ in Albany, Andrew Cuomo proved that he is no reformer. The fact that insufficient evidence of federal crimes was available to indict Mr. Cuomo of obstruction of justice is not the same as finding him innocent.

“Mr. Cuomo turned his back to crimes being committed by his legislative colleagues, just as he shut his eyes to Sheldon Silver’s coverups of sexual assaults committed by powerful men in Albany.

“As I repeatedly called for last year, an independent prosecutor needs to be appointed to investigate whether state crimes were committed by the Governor and his administration. The likelihood that state laws were broken was always the greater possibility. I call on Mr. Cuomo to appoint that prosecutor now.

“True reform will one day come to Albany, but it will not come under this governor. He is too much part of the system and reform and transparency are simply not in his nature.”

For the complete New York Times article, go here.