Feb. 12 (UPI) — The former head of Ohio’s public utilities commission and two energy company executives were indicted Monday in connection with a sprawling political corruption scandal, authorities announced.
Former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Samuel Randazzo and a pair of FirstEnergy Corp. executives, identified as ex-CEO Charles Jones and Vice President Michael Dowling, were indicted as part of the so-called House Bill 6 scandal, in which Republican state officials were bribed to approve taxpayer-funded bailouts of two nuclear power plants.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the indictments handed down by a grand jury in Summit County, Ohio, strikes a major blow against criminal efforts to corrupt the political process.
“This indictment is about more than one piece of legislation,” Yost said in a statement . “It is about the hostile capture of a significant portion of Ohio’s state government by deception, betrayal and dishonesty.
“Shout it from the public square to the boardroom, from Wall Street to Broad and High: Those who perversely seek to turn the government to their own private ends will face the destruction of everything they worked for,” he declared.