From Sean Cockerham in Anchorage –

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski wants an investigation of why the Justice Department abandoned the teen sexual exploitation case against former Veco Corp. Chairman Bill Allen.

Murkowski on Nov. 23 wrote the Justice Department’s acting inspector general and its office of professional responsibility, saying the attorney general has never given a good explanation and the matter needs to be investigated.

“The question why the Justice Department not only declined to pursue sex abuse against Mr. Allen, but also denied the State of Alaska the opportunity to do so, remains a matter of great public interest in the State of Alaska … Only an objective, thorough and independent investigation whose conclusions are made public will bring closure to these questions,” she wrote.

Allen, now 74, was a key government witness for the prosecution in a string of federal corruption cases. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to bribing state lawmakers and was given a three-year sentence. He was recently released.

Allen pursued teenage girls as young as 15 during his rise in Alaska’s business and political circles, according to numerous witnesses as well as police and federal investigators. But the Justice Department refused to prosecute him on those charges and wouldn’t cooperate with the state’s attempt to prosecute him. Federal prosecutors have never publicly explained.