Albany

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara opened the possibility of turning his investigators on state government leaders when he seized control on Thursday of confidential records of the public corruption probing commission Gov. Andrew Cuomo shut down following a budget deal with the Legislature.

Bharara's move on the Moreland Commission files was motivated by his interest in the unfinished probes, unexplored leads and abrupt close to business of the Cuomo panel that the governor or his aides reportedly interfered with through back channels.

In a radio interview on Thursday and in a letter to commissioners April 3 obtained by the Times Union, the federal prosecutor did not rule out pursuing threads that could lead to Cuomo's administration. Bharara said small leads that the commission didn't prioritize might develop into bigger things when federal investigators, who don't face the commission's same time constraints, work them.

"It is impossible to overstate the importance of independence on the part of any investigative body," he said on the Brian Lehrer Show in New York City. Without making specific accusations, Bharara said, "People should take very, very seriously" whether there was "influence or interference. ... I'm not commenting on anybody's motives."

In his letter to commissioners, Bharara, who has shown a passion for pursuing dirty politicians, said the commission's termination suggested political horse-trading between the governor and the Legislature, which had become the primary target of the commission.

"The sequence of these events gives the appearance that investigations potentially significant to the public interest have been bargained away as part of the negotiated arrangement between legislative and executive leaders," Bharara wrote.

Commission co-chairmen Milton Williams and William Fitzpatrick agreed to furnish copies of all ongoing case files and said they were pleased he was taking them. Bharara's office got the records on Thursday.

Cuomo, talking to reporters in Rochester, said he discontinued the commission, which would have required budget funding, because the Legislature had agreed to changes he sought. Some of the changes, such as a pilot program of public financing of elections, have drawn criticism for being so watered down that they have little impact.

That agreement with the Legislature resulted in a test that applied only to the comptroller's race. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli considered it so weak that he has refused to go along with it, despite being a longtime advocate of the public campaign financing.

He called Bharara a top-notch prosecutor on Thursday, adding that his office has had a good relationship with Bharara's office. "We have collaborated on investigations which have already resulted in a conviction and $2 million in restitution in a special education fraud case," DiNapoli said.

Assembly and Senate leaders had no comment on the Bharara takeover of the Moreland workload. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who empowered the Moreland Commission by deputizing the commissioners in July 2013, would not comment.

The executive order that created the commission gave it a life until at least January 2015. The commission has already cost $1.4 million, according to state records.

Bharara said the commission could not finish its probe of public corruption in state government, political campaigns and elections in nine months.

He said that his office works years on investigations and said it originated many of the cases against 19 current or former New York state legislators prosecuted since 1999.

His federal probers are now conducting criminal investigations that overlap activities of the commission, including investigations relating to the improper personal use of campaign funds, bribery and fraud, he said.

Cuomo said continued action by the commission isn't necessary because it helped accomplish the goal of government reform worked out with the Legislature in concluding talks on the state budget last month. He suggested his victory was the Public Trust Act.

"I don't believe we needed yet another bureaucracy for enforcement," he said. "I believe we needed laws changed, and that's what Moreland was about." The budget deal, he said, set up new outside disclosure requirements for elected officials, greater enforcement at the board of elections and stronger penalties for politicians who violate the public's trust.

jodato@timesunion.com • 518-454-5083 • @JamesMOdato