Sun Times: Woman with ties to gov's wife allegedly stole $2.1 mil.

Illinois is a mess. Today's Sun Times,

Anita Mahajan, who has had business ties to Gov. Blagojevich's wife, used lucrative no-bid contracts to steal $2.1 million from taxpayers while lying about her company's tax status, prosecutors said Thursday.

Mahajan, 55, was released on $250,000 bond Thursday night after being charged with six felonies.

The Pols all tangled together in greedy embrace. Somebody is going cut through this ugly knot. I don't if it will be Cal's Stop Rod, but this will come apart.

Anita and Amrish Mahajan are prominent members of Chicago's Indian-American community, with deep ties to some of the state's best-known politicians.

Amrish is president of Harvey-based Mutual Bank and was one of Mayor Daley's first appointees when he was named to a seat on Chicago's Plan Commission in 1989.

The couple were born in India. Amrish met and married Anita after becoming a U.S. citizen in the mid-1970s, and he described himself as a Democrat in a 1988 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.

"Indians must unite, get involved. Politics is part of the game," he said then.

Amrish and other directors of Mutual Bank have been generous political donors. As a group, they and their companies have contributed $40,000 to Gov. Blagojevich, $57,500 to former Gov. George Ryan and $37,500 to Daley since 1998.

Besides giving money to Blagojevich, the Mahajans have ties to former Blagojevich fund-raiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Rezko was indicted last year on federal charges stemming from an alleged fraud scheme involving state pension money.

Mutual Bank, records show, has lent money to Rezko.

In 2005, Mutual Bank held the mortgage on a lot that Rezko's wife, Rita, bought next to Sen. Barack Obama's South Side house.

Update: From Kass today,

Another interesting note is the investigation itself. The fraud charges against Anita Mahajan are not federal charges. They're state charges, filed by the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Suddenly, State's Atty. Richard Devine--the mayor's choice for U.S. attorney in Chicago years ago--has developed a hunger for public corruption cases.

Let's hope the locals don't ruin the infield before the feds play.

In January, five days before search warrants were served allowing county investigators to seize the Mahajan drug testing company files, Mayor Daley had the amazing foresight to quietly return Mahajan's $5,000 contribution.

The mayor, a White Sox fan, is smart. Blagojevich isn't even in the same ballpark.