Posted on 12/22/2002 5:03:56 AM PST by GailA
Agents Raid Education Networks Of America
There’s been another dramatic development in the investigation of alleged insider contracts handed out by the Sundquist administration.
Friday, federal and state agents raided a Nashville company with close ties to the governor.
Agents backed a van inside the offices of Education Networks of America, trying to keep a lid what might be the most dramatic moment yet in the federal and state criminal investigation of alleged insider contracts.
Through the window, investigators were seen hauling away boxes of evidence.
Two longtime friends of the governor, John Stamps and Al Ganier, formed ENA, an Internet company that has landed more than $180 million in state contracts.
While Metro police stood by to make sure no one tried to run out, agents from the FBI, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, IRS and state comptroller's office descended upon ENA offices around 11 a.m.
Agents combed through files for about seven hours while high-tech experts copied computer hard drives.
When NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Phil Williams asked ENA attorney Aubrey Harwell, "Any idea what they are looking for?" Harwell replied: "No, Phil actually we don't. They've got a search warrant. We've been told that they want information. We have instructed people to provide that information."
Ganier, a longtime friend of the governor who headed Sundquist’s first inaugural, landed a no-bid contract in 1996 to connect Tennessee schools to the Internet. ENA then used that experience to win the contracts to continue the service.
The raid came two and a half months after agents hauled off records from a state contractor in Chattanooga, also started by a friend of the governor.
A federal judge issued the search warrant. To get a search warrant, agents must have “probable cause” that a crime has been committed and that evidence of that crime could be expected to be found in the place being searched.
Investigators refused to comment on the case.
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