AP-PA--Pennsylvania News Digest, PA

Fired Pittsburgh cop wants feds to drop false report charge

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania's fiscal watchdog will audit the $78 billion in assets under the state's two big public employee retirement systems. The announcement Monday by Auditor General Eugene DePasquale comes a days after federal prosecutors announced charges in two cases that revolve around state contracts to invest billions of taxpayer dollars. DePasquale's office says the charges have nothing to do with the audit, and that it's been planned for some time. Federal prosecutors charged ex-Treasurer Barbara Hafer and Richard Ireland, who marketed the services of investment firms. Ireland allegedly tried to bribe another former treasurer, Rob McCord, into helping his clients get contracts from the Treasury Department and State Employees' Retirement System. Hafer allegedly lied to FBI agents about payments to her consulting firm from a firm that profited from treasury contracts while Hafer was in office.

Pension investments to get audit amid scandal over fees