The state’s embattled ethics agency refused Tuesday to release the whistleblower complaint that prompted the state’s Inspector General to open a probe into leaks involving Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics met behind closed doors for almost four hours in Albany and then suddenly adjourned, refusing to cast a vote on releasing the complaint or to answer questions from reporters about it.

The complaint alleges that Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Heastie spoke in Jan. 2019 about JCOPE’s confidential deliberations around a possible probe of Joe Percoco, Cuomo’s former top aide and fixer — who now sits in federal prison following a 2016 corruption conviction.

State Inspector General Letizia Tagliafierro — a Cuomo appointee, who said she recused herself from the leak probe — sent a letter on Oct. 4 saying her office couldn’t substantiate the claim.

The entire affair is cloaked in mystery.

JCOPE refuses to comment on Percoco or any possible investigation. And Tagliafierro’s office refuses to say whether or not Cuomo or Heastie were interviewed as part of the probe.

“Consistent with other investigative bodies, this agency cannot discuss the particulars of investigative methods or procedures – particularly in matters that are unsubstantiated,” Tagliafierro’s spokesman Lee Park told The Post, adding the letter is subject state freedom of information laws.

Several JCOPE commissioners briefly floated releasing the inspector general’s report during the roughly 10 minutes of Tuesday’s meeting that took place in public view — but were shot down by the board’s chairman, Michael Rozen, who said they must be discussed behind closed doors.

“This situation should not arise to begin with,” said Alex Camarda, of good government watchdog group Reinvent Albany. “The agency that didn’t do the report is deciding on whether to release another agency’s report.”

Julie Garcia, a former JCOPE member, told The Post last week she was the one who filed the complaint that alleged that a staffer for Heastie contacted her to report that the Speaker and Gov. Cuomo spoke about the panel’s Percoco meeting, which was supposed to be confidential.

Garcia resigned from her position after the IG reported the office could not substantiate her complaint.

“But I don’t understand why that question cannot be answered,” she told The Post, referring to why JCOPE refuses to release a copy of the IG’s report. “It’s important some explanation is given.

She added: “It shouldn’t be this difficult.”