On the Go: RSS | Email Alerts | Mobile and iPhone

Sub-Navigation

Investigators
- What's On The Menu

Side Navigation

Marketplace
- Lifestyle Guides

	WINTER STORM WATCH
	Alert: 1 dead in I-10 crash near downtown Phoenix, traffic blocked
	Alert: Officer-involved wreck shuts down I-17 in Phoenix for hours

Archives |

Consumer Alerts |

Submit an I-Team Tip |

RSS feed

Print this Story

County Attorney: Court tower investigation 'very troubling'

Reported by: Josh Bernstein
Email: jbernstein@abc15.com
Produced by: Dan Siegel
Last Update: 6/10/2009 6:49 am

	UPDATE: County Attorney: Court tower investigation 'very troubling'
	County Attorney: Court tower investigation 'very troubling'

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas

Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the story

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said his office is ready to take action after an ABC15 investigation uncovered what he calls a blatant conflict of interest and possible fraud surrounding the construction of the new Maricopa County Superior Court tower.

The $347 criminal court building is the largest construction project in county history.

Thomas takes issue with the project and its price tag, but said it is attorney Tom Irvine and his role in the project that caught the attention of investigators.

Documents obtained exclusively by the ABC15 Investigators reveal Irvine and his firm are representing both the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who are funding the project, and the Maricopa County Superior Court, that will occupy the building.

Additionally, the courts are taking advantage of an accepted practice referred to as "piggybacking" off Irvine's contracts with the City of Phoenix and the Office of the Arizona Attorney General, instead of putting the contract out for public bid.

Irvine has declined our repeated requests for comment.

"I have to tell you, the facts that you uncovered were not known to me, they were not known to the sheriff, and they are very troubling," Thomas said. "And we are just in the process of digesting them and trying to determine what action we should take."

Read the story: Conflict of interest with $347 million Phoenix court tower?

During an exclusive interview with ABC15, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said, "I really do want to commend Channel 15 for having the courage to go forward in the face of all this opposition."

Thomas, who has been removed from the criminal investigation into the court project, said, "It is a shame that duly elected law enforcement leaders in this community are being obstructed in our ability to get to the bottom of this situation when there are all the classic signs of graft and potential fraud."

Click here to watch Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas talk about the ABC15 investigation

A Superior Court judge recently ruled the Maricopa County Attorney's Office could not be involved with the criminal investigation into the court tower project, claiming it would be a conflict of interest since members of the County Attorney's staff attended meetings where the project was discussed.

Thomas claims his office was "improperly removed from the case" and that it's the courts which have the conflict of interest.

"You have the Superior Court not disclosing that they had an attorney-client relationship with the subject of a criminal investigation and then ruling that we could not continue with that investigation," Thomas said.

Thomas indicated the conflicts of interest run deeper, pointing to Irvine's law partner Ed Novak.

Novak argued before the court to have Thomas removed from the case and criminal investigation of Tom Irvine.

"So the layers of potential improprieties are pretty thick," Thomas said.

Novak did not return our repeated calls for comment.

Thomas said the criminal investigation into Tom Irvine and the court tower is now in the hands of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and prosecutors in Yavapai County.

Meanwhile, construction on the project continues, your tax dollars hard at work.