ALBANY — Gov. Paterson yesterday authorized Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate why the state handed a major environmental group a staggering 57 percent profit on a large tract of wilderness land — at a time when property values were collapsing.
Paterson’s highly unusual action was granted at Cuomo’s request in the wake of an exclusive report in The Post on Monday. The story revealed that in late 2008, the Paterson-controlled Environmental Conservation Department handed The Nature Conservancy a $3.7 million profit on 20,000 acres of wilderness the state purchased to add to the Adirondack Park.
Cuomo said the probe would begin immediately.
“We intend to begin an investigation into the potential overpayment by the state for these lands in the Adirondacks and into questions about the evaluation methods that were used to value the property,” a Cuomo spokesman told The Post.
“Questions have been raised by the valuation of the land and the possible motivations and relationships of those involved, and we will review all of the above,” the spokesman continued.
While Paterson noted in a letter to Cuomo that “under the current facts there is no suggestion that any criminal offenses have taken place,” he added, “If you discover evidence of such criminality that warrants the expansion of this referral, we will considering expanding the scope to grant you that additional authority.”
The Post report disclosed that the huge profit granted the conservancy on a nearly $10 million land deal was based on 1½-year-old appraisals and came despite the findings of an independent state agency that property values in the area had gone up by less than 15 percent.
The report also quoted several Adirondack officials as saying the state paid far too much for the property while a prominent New York official told The Post that state money may have been used to reward a politically powerful environmental organization.
The Cuomo spokesman said the probe would examine the actions of the department as well as those of state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, whose office signed off on the deal.
Meanwhile, DiNapoli said his office would conduct a top-to-bottom review of state land purchases.
“In light of the issues raised by the New York Post, we are reviewing the process of these types of transactions,” said DiNapoli.