Attorney General Buddy Caldwell asked a Baton Rouge judge to block access to records requested by a company whose $200 million Medicaid contract was canceled by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Attorney General Buddy Caldwell asked a Baton Rouge judge to block access to records requested by a company whose $200 million Medicaid contract was canceled by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration.
In a court filing Wednesday, Caldwell's staff told Judge Tim Kelley the records requests by Client Network Services Inc., or CNSI, should not be granted because Caldwell "will soon impanel a special grand jury in East Baton Rouge Parish to hear testimony and review evidence."
The Advocate reports that Lewis Unglesby, attorney for CNSI, said of the development that the company looks forward to defend the legitimacy of its contract in court.
The Jindal administration canceled CNSI's contract in March after a news report that a federal grand jury had subpoenaed documents related to the contract. Jindal health secretary Bruce Greenstein, a former CNSI vice president, resigned a week later.
Since the contract termination, the Maryland-based company sued the Jindal administration, alleging breach of contract and seeking financial damages. CNSI said it had done nothing wrong to win the state contract and was fulfilling its contractual obligations properly.
Then, CNSI asked Kelley to order the state to release records related to the contract dispute - which prompted Caldwell's motion Wednesday to block CNSI's records request.
Assistant attorneys general Butch Wilson and David Caldwell argued in their response motion that CNSI was attempting "to obtain the identities of state employees who have provided evidence to attorney general investigators and who will be called to testify before the special grand jury investigating this matter."