EMAIL DETAILS

The News Journal: State sues over Tigani, DelDOT land deal

-
-
<http://twitter.com/home?status=The%20News%20Journal%3A%20State%20sues%20over%20Tigani%2C%20DelDOT%20land%20deal%20http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FcW59xW>

The Delaware Department of Justice filed suit today in an effort to modify a
sweetheart land deal the state transportation department engineered in 2006
for a friend of former Gov. Ruth Ann Minner.

The lawsuit filed against N.K.S. Distributors Inc. in Delaware Chancery
Court seeks to revise the length of a long-term lease agreement the state
reached with Christopher Tigani of N.K.S. for publicly-owned property on
Del. 1 in Milford.

Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden’s office, which filed on behalf of the
Department of Transportation, said the lease term with the powerful liquor
distributor was intended to be five years with two five-year options, not 66
years. DelDOT officials have said the 2072 expiration date was a
typographical error.

“No one should be able to benefit from a mistake at the expense of the
citizens, especially in a public lease,” Biden said in a statement.

The justice department began looking into the lease following a series of
News Journal articles that revealed DelDOT officials worked diligently to
get the 10.3 acres in the hands of N.K.S. at the request of Minner’s office.
The lease with Tigani, who is a personal friend of Minner’s, eventually led
to the creation of a highly-prized entrance off Del. 1, a limited access
highway.
--
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.co