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FBI Investigating Kentucky State Road Contractors

Dmitry Kalinovsky, 123rf Stock Photo

The FBI is investigating contractors who have worked with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

State officials say they received a grand jury subpoena regarding antitrust allegations involving state contractors dating back to 2010. 

State officials posted a letter last week on the cabinet's website telling contractors to preserve all documents related to construction, paving or asphalt projects.

Cabinet spokeswoman Naitore Djibenou said officials are "fully cooperating and assisting the Department of Justice with its investigation." She noted the cabinet was not the target of the investigation.

An FBI spokesman said as part of Department of Justice police they would not confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.

The cabinet says it received a grand jury subpoena from the FBI on March 22 and has posted a letter on its website alerting contractors about the investigation.

“As a result, the Cabinet is immediately notifying all contractors who have interacted with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet from 2010 to present to preserve any and all documents, communication, and data in their possession that is in any way related to Cabinet construction, paving, or asphalt projects,” the letter states.

The letter goes on to warn contractors that failure to preserve the data could result in “action by the federal government.”

Transportation Cabinet contracts came under scrutiny last year when a Democratic state lawmaker accused Bevin of freezing a road project in his district as political retribution.

Bevin said the project was frozen because the state hadn’t obtained the proper permitting and in turn accused previous Gov. Beshear of approving the project too quickly.

The matter led to the creation of a House investigatory committee, which could not determine if Bevin froze the project as political payback.

Bevin panned the committee as politically motivated, calling it a “kangaroo court.”

Ryland Barton is the Managing Editor for Collaboratives for Kentucky Public Radio, a group of public radio stations including WKMS, WFPL in Louisville, WEKU in Richmond and WKYU in Bowling Green. A native of Lexington, Ryland most recently served as the Capitol Reporter for Kentucky Public Radio. He has covered politics and state government for NPR member stations KWBU in Waco and KUT in Austin.