Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the storyPHOENIX -- ABC15 has learned that Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas will urge the Arizona State Supreme Court to overturn a lower court's ruling that his office could not be involved with a criminal investigation into the new $347 million court tower.
Sources close to the investigation tell ABC15 that Thomas will file the motion on Thursday.
This comes in the wake of an ABC15 investigation that uncovered a shroud of secrecy and conflicts of interest surrounding the largest construction project in Maricopa County history.
Documents obtained exclusively by ABC15 reveal Phoenix attorney Thomas K. Irvine and his firm are representing both the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who are funding the project, and the Maricopa County Superior Court, which will occupy the building.
"It is a blatant conflict of interest," said Clint Bolick, a former attorney with the United States Department of Justice.
Bolick said representing both sides in a financial transaction "creates the situation of potential self-enrichment and undue influence."
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."
"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," Thomas said.
Irvine has declined our repeated requests for comment.
Meanwhile, ABC15's investigation into the court tower took center stage at an Arizona State Senate subcommittee hearing focusing on government transparency.
"The County Attorney has not been able to get any information. The Sheriff has not been able to get any information. The treasurer has not been able to get any information. The only one who's been able to get anything is Josh Bernstein with ABC15," Royce Flora, Maricopa County deputy chief treasurer, testified before the committee.
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 said in the interview it's the courts that have a 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.
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