DiMasi’s lawyer says prosecutors interfered

“The premise of the motion to dismiss is that it is, in the words of the Supreme Court, unseemly and unjust for the government to beggar those it prosecutes in order to disable their defense at trial,’’ DiMasi’s attorney, Thomas R. Kiley, said during a hearing in US District Court in Boston on a number of defense motions attacking the government’s case.

The State Retirement Board, suspended DiMasi’s $5,000-a-month pension in June, two days after DiMasi pleaded not guilty to a federal indictment alleging he received $57,000 in payments for helping Burlington software vendor Cognos LLC win two state contracts.

The board scheduled a hearing at which DiMasi planned to call witnesses and present evidence in a bid to get his pension restored. But the US attorney’s office asked the board to postpone the hearing until DiMasi’s criminal case is resolved, and the board agreed.

On Oct. 29, the entire Retirement Board voted on the matter for the first time and suspended DiMasi’s pension while he awaits his trial. However, the board also found that DiMasi should not have been stripped of his pension prior to the vote by the full board and awarded him a retroactive payment of about $25,000 for the pension checks withheld since June.

“The reality is this defendant is being denied the wherewithal to defend himself,’’ said Kiley, arguing that the federal prosecutors’ interference in state proceedings over DiMasi’s pension raised ethical questions.

He urged US District Judge Mark L. Wolf to dismiss the indictment against DiMasi or, at a minimum, to order prosecutors to turn over any communications the US attorney’s office had with the office of state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who oversees the retirement system and chairs the board.

Wolf did not rule on the motion to dismiss, but denied Kiley’s request for an order forcing prosecutors to turn over any additional information about contacts with Cahill’s office.

He pointed out that the letter the US attorney’s office sent to the board “did not ask that the pension to Mr. DiMasi not be paid, only that the hearing not be held.’’

The judge said he would probably appoint DiMasi’s two lawyers to continue representing him at taxpayer expense if he could no longer afford them and was declared indigent.

Assistant US Attorney S. Theodore Merritt argued that it is routine for civil proceedings to be postponed so they do not interfere with criminal cases. He said prosecutors had concerns that DiMasi’s lawyers would use the state pension hearing to call some of the same witnesses slated to testify at DiMasi’s federal trial and get additional evidence relating to the federal charges.

“We made it clear that the government was taking no position as to whether he should or should not receive [pension] payments,’’ Merritt said.

The federal indictment charges DiMasi; Richard Vitale, his friend and former financial advisor; Richard McDonough, a former Cognos lobbyist; and Joseph Lally, an independent sales agent for the company, with scheming to steer the two state contracts to Cognos.

Charges recently added to the indictment allege that DiMasi had a secret financial interest in a real estate firm, Genesis Management Group LLC, and helped the firm get business, in exchange for profits.