* Interesting…
A month before opening arguments were made in Antoin Rezko’s federal corruption trial, Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s top lawyer issued a memo to the governor’s senior aides.
The Feb. 8 directive called on staff members to search their computers, calendars and files for any information relating to Rezko and eight other notable people whose names have found their way into allegations of corruption within state government.
“If you find any documents or information relating to these individuals, you must notify the Office of the General Counsel in accordance with the directions set out below,” wrote William Quinlan, the governor’s senior legal advisor.
The memo appears to show the governor’s office was attempting to determine the extent of information in its own files about Rezko, whose trial is now nearing its end.
Among the names listed in the memo were Chris Kelly, David Wilhelm, Milan Petrovic, William Cellini, Robert Kjellander, Amrish Mahajan and Melvyn Weiss.
You may not recognize those last two names. Here’s a bit of background…
* Amrish Mahajan…
A Chicago banker whose wife is accused of bilking millions from a no-bid state contract has helped raise more than a half million dollars for Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaigns since 2001. […]
Mahajan’s ties to Blagojevich run deep–including hiring the Democratic governor’s wife last year as a real estate agent on $5.7 million in private land deals. […]
At one political event last year, the governor’s 10-year-old daughter, Amy, was overheard by at least two Blagojevich supporters interviewed by the Tribune referring to Mahajan as “Uncle Amrish.” […]
Mahajan’s wife, Anita, was arrested [in March of 2007] on charges of overbilling millions of dollars on her state contract to provide drug screenings to clients of the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services. Her downtown Chicago company, K.K. Bio-Science Inc., has held the no-bid state contract since the early 1990s.
* Melvyn Weiss…
Melvyn Weiss paid $5,000 toward lodging, meals and entertainment for Blagojevich’s entourage during its December 2003 trip to New York.
Weiss, his law firm and its attorneys also donated $45,000 to the Blagojevich campaign, including $10,000 on May 13, 2004. Twelve days later, the TRS board voted to place Weiss’ law firm on its list of outside litigators.
[In May of 2006], Weiss’ law firm and two of his partners were indicted by a federal grand jury in a kickback scheme. Weiss did not return a message left at his New York office.