Kathleen Kane

Attorney General Kathleen Kane, at a recent press conference in Harrisburg.

(PAUL CHAPLIN)

A grand jury is recommending that Attorney General Kathleen Kane face criminal charges for allegedly leaking secret grand jury information to a newspaper, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report.

The report cited anonymous sources. PennLive could not immediately confirm the report.

The investigation stemmed from the alleged leak of documents to the Philadelphia Daily News from another grand jury investigation of a Philadelphia official.

What you need to know about the leak case.

That case began in 2010, when two employees of a Philadelphia nonprofit, Harriet Garrett and her daughter Yvette Gimenez, were charged with, and later pleaded guilty to stealing an estimated $220,000 in state grants that were supposed to fund a job-training program.

In June, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that Kane was reviewing a grand jury investigation of Garrett's boss, J. Whyatt Mondesire, the former head of the Philadelphia NAACP. That investigation, which took place under former Attorney General-turned-Gov. Tom Corbett, never resulted in any charges and Mondesire has denied any wrongdoing.

Grand juries determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to pursue criminal cases and, until the 1970s, they often indicted suspects in Pennsylvania. While witnesses are permitted to discuss their testimony, court and law enforce officials are sworn to secrecy.

Leaks, however, are very common at both the federal and state level. Information about grand jury examining Kathleen Kane's investigation was itself leaked by anonymous sources.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said she did not have a comment Thursday on the report of the grand jury recommendation.

Lanny Davis, one of the attorneys represent Kane released the following statement to PennLive:

"I cannot confirm the posted report in the Philadelphia Inquirer of any presentment issued by the Grand Jury regarding Attorney General Kathleen Kane. If such is the case, then it is my understanding that it is up to the Montgomery County District Attorney to make a judgment as to whether to proceed against the Attorney General. The Attorney General has done nothing wrong or illegal and, to my knowledge, there is no credible evidence that she has. She told the truth to the Grand Jury at all times. I hope the District Attorney will reach same conclusion.

"This anonymous leak to the Inquirer about this alleged presentment could be, in and of itself, a possible violation of the state Grand Jury Secrecy Act. I wonder why the supervising judge who appointed the special prosecutor to investigate the Attorney General hasn't initiated a grand jury investigation of this leak or any of the other previous leaks from this same Grand Jury process."