TRENTON — A former top official at the Schools Development Authority made contradictory statements during an ethics investigation, according to a state inspector general report issued today. The former official, Gerald Murphy, had a close relationship with Tom Foy, a vice president at the firm Hill International, which received state contracts, the report said. Murphy chaired the committee that awarded...
TRENTON — A former top official at the Schools Development Authority made contradictory statements during an ethics investigation, according to a state inspector general report issued today.
The former official, Gerald Murphy, had a close relationship with Tom Foy, a vice president at the firm Hill International, which received state contracts, the report said.
New Jersey Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper in a 2007 file photo.Murphy chaired the committee that awarded Hill the contracts, then approved company expense reports, the report said.
Although Murphy originally acknowledged his relationship with Foy, he denied it last year when an ethics investigation focused on whether he violated regulations, Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper said.
She called it a "180 degree" reversal.
"The evidence was clear that these were contradictory statements," she said.
Murphy, who previously paid a $3,000 fine for ethics violations, resigned during the investigation, Cooper said. She referred her office's findings to the state Division of Criminal Justice for possible prosecution.