City Investigator Will Not Help With Kerik Probe

[Robbien]

NEW YORK -- To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, the Department of Investigations' top inspector will not take part in the investigation of former police commissioner Bernard Kerik, officials said.

Michael Caruso has been inspector general of the Department of Investigations since 1990 and is also an assistant commissioner at the Department of Correction and is responsible for corruption investigations there. His removal from the Kerik probe was announced Tuesday by Department of Investigations spokeswoman Emily Gest.

The agency did not explain why Caruso would not participate, but it is known that he attended Kerik's wedding reception in 1998, and Kerik wrote in his autobiography that Caruso helped him prepare for a job interview in 2000 with then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Kerik was nominated in December to succeed Tom Ridge as head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He withdrew from consideration several days later, saying a former nanny he employed may have been in the country illegally.

He was subsequently accused of a rash of other misdeeds, including accepting cash gifts and having simultaneous extramarital affairs with two different women.

http://www.wnbc.com/politics/4107394/detail.html