The OD reported that more than eight months after the state Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation into the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, it still hasn’t reached a conclusion, a state spokesperson said Tuesday.
The state would not say when it expected to complete the probe into whether fraudulent practices or illegal acts might have occurred at the Utica nonprofit.
In November 2009, the state began investigating the association, seeking documents from the past five years detailing the agency's compensation to employees and contracts with vendors.
Reached Tuesday, the association’s president, Rudy D’Amico, said he hadn’t been in contact with the Attorney General’s Office since last year.
“We’ve made all of the appropriate disclosures to the Attorney General’s Office months ago,” D’Amico said. “We’re just waiting for this matter to be brought to a close.”
Paul Drejza, the nonprofit’s board chairman, would not comment on the investigation and said all communication must go through D’Amico.
In March 2009, the O-D reported the association for the blind had awarded nearly $3 million in work since the late 1990s to two private companies with ties to key figures at the agency. Nonprofit experts said such arrangements raised ethical questions.
The nonprofit awarded contracts to firms that were owned by D’Amico, and at one time by Charles A. Gaetano, a longtime agency board member and director emeritus.
D'Amico’s company, Express Systems Integration, handled information technology contracts at a time that he oversaw information technology issues at the association for the blind.
The state would not say when it expected to complete the probe into whether fraudulent practices or illegal acts might have occurred at the Utica nonprofit.
In November 2009, the state began investigating the association, seeking documents from the past five years detailing the agency's compensation to employees and contracts with vendors.
Reached Tuesday, the association’s president, Rudy D’Amico, said he hadn’t been in contact with the Attorney General’s Office since last year.
“We’ve made all of the appropriate disclosures to the Attorney General’s Office months ago,” D’Amico said. “We’re just waiting for this matter to be brought to a close.”
Paul Drejza, the nonprofit’s board chairman, would not comment on the investigation and said all communication must go through D’Amico.
In March 2009, the O-D reported the association for the blind had awarded nearly $3 million in work since the late 1990s to two private companies with ties to key figures at the agency. Nonprofit experts said such arrangements raised ethical questions.
The nonprofit awarded contracts to firms that were owned by D’Amico, and at one time by Charles A. Gaetano, a longtime agency board member and director emeritus.
D'Amico’s company, Express Systems Integration, handled information technology contracts at a time that he oversaw information technology issues at the association for the blind.
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