Thoughts and Opinions On Today's Important Issues

Friday, August 22, 2008

Is the FBI Investigating The Tunnel Deal



It is getting scary to be blunt about it. Councillor Hatfield must read my BLOG since he can call me, as a Blogger, one of Councillor Halberstadt’s friends. Apparently so does the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Only last week I wrote:
  • “Come on. Admit it.

    You have been wondering just as I have whether the FBI has been looking into this Tunnel deal with all of its strange goings-on as part of their investigations. Have Canadian police forces been involved also?”

Almost immediately thereafter, a new story broke. There were headlines in the Detroit media about the Detroit Mayor’s former Administrator and good friend being involved in a federal probe.

The Tunnel deal was not mentioned in the Detroit media. However, it was not too soon after those stories came out that the Star did its story and talked about the Tunnel deal and Derrick Miller’s involvement in it. It was an obvious angle to take since the Star had told us about his role previously and Crains Detroit had written

  • “New post for Detroit official

    Derrick Miller, former chief information officer for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, now is founder and managing partner of Citivest Capital Partners L.L.C…

    He continues work for Kilpatrick on concession agreements between the city and Windsor about their joint ownership of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and its operation and future.”

Cliff Sutts is proving to be not only a first-class lawyer but a first-class psychic as well. Didn't he say quite recently:

  • "We are negotiating a tunnel deal -- and now we are involved in a criminal case. It's absurd."

I wonder if even he thought that this commercial deal could turn into a criminal matter itself if it is part of a larger investigation.

Fortunately, he and the Mayor have already gone public with their version of some of the events that took place involving the Mayor of Detroit "to put the record straight." I would assume that if they are questioned by the authorities, if in fact the Tunnel deal is being looked at, they would have answers at their fingertips.

  • "We feel we need to reveal the facts..."

    "We are taking this position because frankly we have been dragged into it," Sutts said. "We are not going to lie or appear that we are not being truthful. The facts are the facts -- and they can't change them."

A point in the Star story that is very interesting is:

  • "Francis, who communicated often with Miller about the deal..."

and that

  • "agents told him [Pangborn's lawyer] they'd been looking into Miller for about a year."

If there were telephone calls or text messages between them on the Tunnel, have they been captured by the Authorities?

Who knows what is being investigated on the other side and whether the Tunnel is involved. It is just another wrinkle in a file that makes no sense whatsoever to me. I truly hope that this matter is "on hold" until everything sorts itself out!