HARTFORD — Connecticut’s effort to strip former school-construction official Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis of his state pension reached a hearing Thursday, October 15, with questions about notice and the need for an interim order, according to CT Mirror’s courtroom report.
Reporter Andrew Brown wrote that Superior Court Judge James Graham questioned why future payments needed to be held in escrow when the comptroller’s office had already stopped direct deposits in September. Neither Diamantis nor an attorney representing him appeared at the hearing, CT Mirror reported.
According to the outlet, Graham asked the attorney general’s office to continue addressing notice to Diamantis and explain its position in a motion. Diamantis told CT Mirror he had not been notified and disputed the pension cutoff. Those hearing details are attributed to the outlet; this newsroom has not independently obtained a transcript or a subsequent signed order.
The state’s September 30 verified complaint identifies the proceeding as a civil pension-revocation action in the Judicial District of Hartford. An attached proposed temporary injunction asks that Diamantis be prevented from receiving pension payments and that the comptroller hold them pending further court action. A proposed order is not a judge’s ruling.
Attorney General William Tong’s September 30 announcement says Connecticut’s pension-revocation law requires a civil action after specified convictions related to public office. A court decides whether to reduce or revoke benefits, considering the crime’s severity, financial loss, the trust placed in the official and his role in a fraudulent scheme. The law does not make every request an automatic loss of all benefits.
Federal prosecutors separately announced that U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill sentenced Diamantis September 30 in Bridgeport to seven years in prison and three years of supervised release. The conviction involved extortion, bribery, conspiracy and false statements tied to state-funded school construction, including work at Tolland’s Birch Grove Primary School. Prosecutors said he failed to appear for sentencing.
The October 15 hearing report does not establish a final pension-revocation decision. That civil question should not be confused with the already imposed federal criminal sentence.