Metro

Under-probe DA leads NY ethics panel

Just days after allegations of serious ethical violations by Westchester DA Janet DiFiore came to light, she’s scheduled to preside over a meeting of the state ethics panel she heads.

The Post on Monday revealed the county’s social services agency has been investigating DiFiore for a year over allegations that she used her influence to get her family’s live-in maid welfare benefits.

The agenda has not yet been set for tomorrow’s Albany meeting of the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics, and it’s not clear anyone will mention the embarrassing accusations. Gov. Cuomo is not expected to immediately comment on the probe of his fellow Democrat, a source told The Post.

He fears any defense could be seen as taking sides in a political battle and he doesn’t want to pre-judge, the source said.

That’s because the county fraud investigator in charge of the DiFiore investigation, Dhyalma Vazquez, also chairs the Yonkers Independence Party.

As DA, DiFiore prosecuted the chairwoman of the Rockland Independence Party, Debra Ortutay, who pleaded guilty to forging nominating petitions.

Russ Haven of the New York Public Interest Research Group said the DiFiore probe “is not the kind of narrative the commission is looking for.”

JCOPE, which began its oversight over the Legislature and state executive branch in December, has already been criticized for leaking word of an influence-peddling probe into Sen. Tom Libous (R-Binghamton).

In White Plains yesterday, Philippe Gille, a deputy commissioner in the Department of Social Services, told his staff to pick up the pace of the DiFiore investigation, another source said.

The maid, Marina Buchanan, was rejected for welfare on three occasions before her case was suddenly reopened in 2010 — and she was approved. “This was a political favor for Janet DiFiore,” charged Vazquez.

DiFiore accused Vazquez of playing politics and insisted, “I’ve done nothing wrong in any respect.’’