Metro ethics chief disputes councilman's claim that board found no ethical violations

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - Metro's ethics chief is breaking his silence regarding the ethics probe into Metro Chairman Jack Evans.

The embattled D.C. councilman faces scrutiny for allegedly mixing personal business dealings with his official position.

Clarence Crawford heads up WMATA's ethics board. He says the board looked at multiple allegations of ethical violations by Evans and found a violation.

He says the board decided that Evans should leave the chairmanship when his term expires on June 30.

But Crawford strongly disputes Evans' claim that the board found "no violations."

"The ethics committee did find one violation. That violation was outlined in my letter and there's also a memo to the file," Crawford said.

Crawford spelled out the allegations against Evans in a four-page letter to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam after both Governors demanded the findings of Metro's ethics investigation into the chairman be released.

On Wednesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser said the fact that the ethics panel issued no final report on Evans was "shaky" and seemed to take issue with Crawford's letter.

But in an interview with FOX 5, Governor Hogan had a different take, calling for Evans to resign as Metro Board Chairman, and that he be removed from the board altogether.

Hogan says he wants the full story out.

"We need to get to the bottom of this to make sure and find out if people acting unethically or breaking the law, or if we got corruption going on in WMATA, we need to know about it," Hogan said.

"The orderly thing for them to do is have the committee make a report to the board and the board speak about this, what becomes a little tricky is when you have individuals who may be politically influenced commenting," Bowser said.

FOX 5 has reached out to Evans, but has not heard back.

The councilman already announced that he will step down as WMATA board chairman when his term ends on June 30.

Despite the councilman's promise to resign, Federal prosecutors are still investigating, and they have not revealed their findings yet.