Connecticut Republicans are calling for legislative hearings into a former state deputy budget director who is now ensnared in an FBI corruption investigation.
Konstantinos Diamantis is a former Democratic state Representative who joined the Lamont administration as a deputy budget director and head of the Office of School Construction and Grants Review. Diamantis stepped down from that job in October after Lamont placed him on administrative leave when a federal grand jury issued subpoenas into Diamantis’ oversight of school construction and the State Pier project.
“Anytime that the Federal Bureau of Investigation visits a government agency and starts to ask questions it's not a good day,” said Senate Minority Leader Kevin Kelly.
He said lawmakers need to find out what’s going on with the Lamont administration.
“It’s too soon to say how they would be actually structured but the whole process would need airing at some point,” said Senate President Martin Looney.
A probe commissioned by the Lamont administration has led Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo to announce his retirement next month.
That probe found that Colangelo hired Diamantis’ daughter Anastasia to a $99,000 a year job. At the time Colangelo was seeking her father’s help in getting approval for pay increases in his department.
Anastasia Diamantis has since been placed on paid leave.
