Walters land deal probe goes on

Thursday, April 20, 2006 | 7:41 a.m.

Nearly six months after Nevada Attorney General George Chanos appointed an outside law firm to look into the controversial Royal Links Golf Club land deal, investigators still have not contacted property owner Bill Walters, and the probe's end is nowhere in sight.

While awaiting the outcome of the investigation, the Las Vegas City Council has indefinitely postponed a decision on whether to accept Walters' offer of $7.2 million to lift a deed restriction on the golf course to convert it to a residential development.

None of the investigators is willing to comment on the investigation's status or estimate when it will be concluded.

But Walters, who purchased the land from the city in 1999 with the condition that it be used only as a golf course, said he finds it perplexing that he still has not been contacted.

"From my perspective, I find it totally ridiculous," Walters said. "We haven't received any phone calls or any letters, not anything."

Mike Luce, president of the Walters Group, added that the company "has not heard one single word from anyone on the investigation."

"We're just sitting here marking time," Luce said.

The lead investigator, Reno attorney Calvin Dunlap, a former Washoe County district attorney hired by the law firm Senn Meulemans LLP, eschewed any specifics in discussing the case.

"We're still working on it," he said. "We're just continuing to work on the matter."

Under a contract approved by the state Board of Examiners in December, Senn Meulemans can spend up to $265,000 of the state's money on the investigation.

The law firm was asked by Chanos' office to determine whether there were any improprieties concerning how Walters acquired the Royal Links property in the 1990s or in his current plan to build houses on the land. For Walters' housing plan to proceed, the city must remove a deed restriction that currently limits the land's use to a golf course.

Repeated calls this week to Catherine Meulemans, a partner in the law firm, were not returned.

Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic said the city has fully cooperated with the investigation by turning over 18,400 pages of e-mails and other documents requested by Senn Meulemans. Jerbic, however, would not comment on whether city officials have been interviewed in the probe.

"To my knowledge the investigation is still in progress, and the city is willing to cooperate," Jerbic said.

Assistant Attorney General Randal Munn, who is overseeing Senn Meulemans' role as special counsel, said the fact that the law firm has not yet billed the state for work performed is "unprecedented," but of no concern to his office.

"They usually bill as they go," Munn said. "They're probably going to do one billing at the end."

Munn added that the law firm was "diligently working" on the investigation, and that no deadline has been established.