KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | New indictment in corruption probe

New indictment in corruption probe

by Bill McAllister
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Reliable sources tell Channel 2 News that a grand jury has handed up a new indictment this evening in the ongoing public corruption probe.

There is no word yet who has been charged.

One current state senator, John Cowdery, and one former state senator, Ben Stevens, had their offices raided by federal agents in 2006.

Both were implicated in court testimony in 2007 as accepting bribes from former VECO Corp. executives. Both have thus far remained uncharged.

John Wolfe, a Seattle-based attorney representing Ben Stevens, was contacted by cell phone.

"It would be grossly irresponsible for anyone to suggest that Ben Stevens would be the subject of an indictment today," Wolfe said. 

John Cowdery's attorney, Kevin Fitzgerald, said he could shed no light on the reported indictment.

Fitzgerald says that typically an attorney would be notified when such an action is being taken against a client, but he also suggested that there are not normal procedures in this public corruption probe.

He says he has not been contacted by federal prosecutors.

This is a developing story. Please return to KTUU.com for updates to this story.