ALBANY — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver isn’t off the hook yet.
A judge yesterday authorized a criminal probe into sex-harassment allegations against Vito Lopez to also include Silver’s role in secretly settling charges against the longtime Brooklyn Democratic boss with a taxpayer-funded $103,080 payout.
Judge Fern Fisher gave Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan the green light to include Silver’s actions in the probe, a day after The Post reported Donovan’s probe was limited to Lopez.
Meantime, Gov. Cuomo put the heat on state ethics investigators to zero in on Silver, too.
Cuomo threatened to order an independent investigation of the state’s new ethics watchdog agency, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, in the wake of reports that legislative appointees to the panel authorized a probe only of Lopez’s actions and not Silver’s.
“It would be unconscionable for any legislative appointees to JCOPE to block such investigation,” Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said.
JCOPE quickly announced a special meeting scheduled for Monday.
Silver (D-Manhattan) has said he welcomes the scrutiny.
“A full investigation will show that all of the Assembly’s actions were legal and taken in good faith to protect the victims,” said Silver spokesman Michael Whyland.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-LI), who like Silver has three appointees to JCOPE’s 14-member board, joined in the call for a full investigation by the panel.
Silver censured Lopez on Aug. 24 and stripped him of most of his power after the Assembly Ethics Committee concluded the Brooklyn Democratic boss groped and kissed young female aides.
Silver’s earlier approval of the six-figure settlement of separate but similar charges surfaced soon after Silver announced the censure. Lopez — who paid $32,000 from his own pocket as part of the settlement— has denied all charges.
Also yesterday, JCOPE Commissioner Ravi Batra resigned after slamming his own panel as being “remote-controlled” by Cuomo’s minions.
“I welcome a subpoena from a federal prosecutor or a Moreland Act-empowered special prosecutor to share my experiences and impressions about the reality of JCOPE in practice,” he told JCOPE Chair Janet DiFiore.
Batra claimed he contacted “independent federal law enforcement almost a month ago” about “festering misconduct” at JCOPE.
He cited “apparent illegal leaks” and “deception of commissioners” by a JCOPE staff dominated by former Cuomo aides.
Neither Vlasto nor a JCOPE spokesman responded to requests for comment.