Santa Ana backs off threat to release investigation into mayor

Santa Ana city officials on Tuesday backed off on their threat to release details of a city investigation into a real estate deal between the city’s longtime mayor and a local business owner who had obtained an exclusive city contract.

Santa Ana officials had pledged to release the report by the end of the month if actions were not taken by the agencies investigating the mayor’s real estate dealings.

The Orange County district attorney and the state Fair Political Practices Commission have opened investigations.

The deal between Mayor Miguel Pulido and the owner of a downtown auto parts shop has been the subject of intense scrutiny in Santa Ana since details of it were made public late last year by the investigative news website Voice of OC.

The city prepared its own report on the deal, which it has kept confidential. But in early September the council directed the city attorney to release the report by Sept. 30 if actions were not filed by that time.

“While the council continues to be respectful of the law enforcement process, it must also be responsive to its community and believes the public has the right to review this report in due time,” City Atty. Sonia Carvalho said at the time.

On Tuesday, the city issued a more moderate statement, saying that it was reversing course following discussions with the district attorney’s office.

“The City will not compromise an ongoing investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies,” the statement read.

In a brief telephone interview, Pulido declined to comment on the specifics of the real estate deal but said he believed he would be fully vindicated.

“We just have to let the authorities do their work,” he said. “I’m confident that when they’re done we’re going to be in good shape.”

In a letter written to the city attorney following the city’s decision to release the report, Senior Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael Lubinski said releasing documents and reports would be premature and said it could “compromise the ongoing investigation.”

According to that letter, Carvalho in March asked the district attorney’s office to investigate Pulido for criminal misconduct. At the time, the city attorney handed over documents and reports relevant to the investigation and asked that they be kept confidential and the district attorney’s office agreed.

The investigations involve a property deal in which Pulido and several family members in 2010 swapped a piece of downtown property for a home in Westminster belonging to Rupen James Akoubian, president of NAPA Orange County Auto Parts.

The downtown property, which was used as a parking lot, was next to the auto parts store.

At the time of the sale, records show both properties valued at $200,000. But the Orange County assessor’s office later determined that the home was worth more than double that amount.

A little over a year after the deal, Pulido voted along with his colleagues on the council to give the auto parts business a three-year auto parts contract for city vehicles worth $1.35 million.

The mayor then sold the home in 2012 for $397,000, records show.

Pulido did not disclose the deal before voting and he did not include the Westminster home in his economic interest statements until after the deal was reported in the media.

Akoubian could not immediately be reached for comment.

But earlier this year, he told The Times that “there were no favors given or taken” and that the property swap was unrelated to the contract the company was later awarded.

He said he never dealt directly with Pulido, only with his father, and that the downtown lot he obtained in exchange for the home was extremely valuable to him.

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