Metro

Elex board to probe Indies’ $$

The state Board of Elections is going to scrutinize the filings of the state Independence Party to determine if it tried to hide $133,000 it forwarded to indicted political operative John Haggerty, officials said yesterday.

“If there’s something not reported, that’s something we would look at,” said John Conklin, a board spokesman.

When Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. slapped Haggerty with grand-larceny charges on Monday, he said the party reported only $750,000 of $883,000 sent to Haggerty last year to mount a poll-watching operation for Mayor Bloomberg.

Haggerty is accused of stealing the money, part of $1.1 million provided to the party by Bloomberg.

Independence Party officials allegedly helped Haggerty keep his name in the background by failing to list an $83,000 payment made to him on Nov. 24, and another $50,000 sent on Dec. 4.

Anyone viewing the publicly posted filings would only have seen $750,000 going to Haggerty’s mysterious Special Election Operations LLC. There was no indication that Haggerty was the person behind the secretive company.

Any action by the board is probably months off, and the maximum fine it can impose is $500, so party officials would be more concerned with public humiliation than with financial penalties.

The continuing investigation also poses a problem for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, who has accepted the party’s ballot line. Cuomo yesterday found himself fielding questions about whether he still wanted the Independence endorsement.

david.seifman@nypost.com