"Justice Dept. ends inquiry of West Virginia Democrat
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has shuttered its nearly four-year investigation into the personal finances of Representative Alan Mollohan, Democrat of West Virginia, freeing the 14-term lawmaker to pursue what could be a tough bid for reelection without the lingering cloud of a federal criminal probe.
The US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia had been overseeing an investigation of Mollohan, a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, for steering roughly $250 million in line-item expenditures to several nonprofit organizations run by close friends who also were real estate partners with him. Mollohan’s office was notified this month that the investigation had been closed without criminal charges filed. Federal prosecutors declined to elaborate on what the investigation had found.
Why not?
The ending of the case would clear the way for Mollohan, 66, to resume full control of a subcommittee that oversees the roughly $28 billion budget for the Justice Department and the nearly $8 billion budget for the FBI....
I'd rather he not.
--more--"
