If the prominent white-collar lawyer running for mayor is elected, the Ministry of Investigation would be overhauled and given new powers, including the power to prosecute corrupt officials.
The agency will be renamed the Citywide Office of Public Integrity and will rely on a team of “elite anti-corruption prosecutors” to fast-track cases through the newly created New York City Corruption Court under mayoral candidate Jim Walden's plan. I will do it.
“This rethinks DOI and makes it more like DOI. [U.S.] Department of Justice,” Walden told the Post.
Under current law, the DOI can only prosecute misdemeanors, so Walden said he would push for legislation that would also allow the DOI to handle felonies and grant clemency to whistleblowers in exchange for their cooperation. .
The office would be independent, similar to the DOI, but its director would serve a 10-year term rather than defer to the current mayor or city council.
Mr. Walden is a former federal prosecutor with a long history of representing elected officials and other clients in cases involving Big Apple politics, currently pending against Mayor Eric Adams. He is handling cases indirectly related to federal bribery charges.
The Brooklyn Heights resident said his desire to create the new department stems from “23 years of suing government agencies, seeing corruption everywhere, and then surviving a three-and-a-half year federal investigation.” [former Mayor] Bill de Blasio and Mayor Adams are indicted. ”
Walden jumped into the race two months ago and is running as an apolitical independent, seeking support from both the left and the right and drawing on former Mayor Mike Bloomberg's strategy.
He doesn't have Bloomberg's billions, but he fueled his campaign with a $500,000 personal loan.
