In re Investigating Grand Jury No. 88-00-3505

In re Investigating Grand Jury No. 88-00-3505

Opinion

 [*434]   [**403]  OPINION

This is a direct appeal from three orders entered by the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in conjunction with the supervision, administration, and operation of Investigating Grand Jury No. 88-00-3505. The grand jury investigation involved allegations of improper diversion of public  [*435]  funds by officials in the Office of the Clerk of Quarter Sessions and the Sheriff's Department of Philadelphia County through the investment of the funds in certificates of deposit referred to as charitable certificates of deposit ("CDs"). The charitable CDs paid a lower rate of return than other CDs available at the Philadelphia financial institution, with a percentage of the interest on the investment [***2]  being contributed to a private organization qualifying for a charitable tax deduction.

The record has been sealed in this matter to preserve the confidentiality of the grand jury's inquiry. For that reason, the individuals and financial institution involved in the inquiry will not be identified by name. The Petitioners include the Philadelphia bank that issued the CDs, the president of the bank, an employee of the bank ("Employee B" herein), and their counsel Paul R. Rosen, Esquire and Richard E. Miller, Esquire.

The orders being challenged by the Petitioners include an order entered on June 2, 1989 permitting documents of the bank president seized during a search conducted pursuant to a warrant to be turned over to  [**404]  the Commonwealth for use before the grand jury. The other two orders were entered on July 19, 1989. One disqualified Paul R. Rosen, Esquire and Richard E. Miller, Esquire from representing bank employees, other than the bank president, in the course of the grand jury investigation; the other granted the Commonwealth's petition for immunity for Employee B. A similar request for immunity made by the Commonwealth as to four other bank employees was denied.

 [***3]  As part of the grand jury investigation, an assistant district attorney and Detective Thomas Lyons interviewed the bank president on December 6, 1988. The bank president indicated that the public officials had put the funds into the charitable CDs at the lower rate of return, with 1% contributed to the private organization. During an interview with Detective Lyons on December 8, 1988, Employee B indicated that bank confirmation letters had been sent for the charitable CDs.

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