JACKSON - Gov. Ronnie Musgrove said Friday that any investigation into land deals for Nissan's auto plant in Madison County should not hurt efforts to sell the state to other industrial prospects.
The FBI has questioned business people and public officials about negotiations for some property the state bought or is still trying to buy for the Japanese automaker's $930 million assembly plant now under construction.
"We welcome any legitimate investigation," Musgrove said in a meeting at his office with reporters from The Associated Press.
The governor said he had no knowledge of an investigation and that neither he nor anyone on his staff had been contacted by federal authorities.
The state of Mississippi has spent $31.9 million buying about 1,500 acres from some 60 landowners for the Nissan project, which the state announced in November 2000.
The state and some landowners are enmeshed in legal wrangling over 374 acres, most of which is owned by Madison County real estate investor Tom Hixon.
When some families living on the site decided early last year they wanted to keep their land, the state resorted to eminent domain - a legal procedure that allows governments to take private property for public use.
The fight has been peppered with claims of racism from black property owners.
"We've dealt in good faith and negotiated in good faith," Musgrove said. "From my perspective, if anything is revealed, certainly corrective action will be taken.
"It will certainly be a surprise to me. But at the same time, we want to do everything we can to protect and fairly and legitimately pay the landowners for their property, then put ourselves in a position to move forward in economic development."
Mississippi reportedly is on a short list of states for a $1 billion auto plant that Hyundai Motors plans to build in the United States.
The FBI office in Jackson declined Friday to discuss specifics of an ongoing investigation in Madison County. The office has earned a national reputation for rooting out public corruption in the state.
Attorney General Mike Moore has said his office is involved in a joint investigation of "various problems" in Madison County with federal authorities and the state auditor.
Moore said in June his office was looking into "allegations of corruption, overpayment of contracts and the like."
He has said the investigation was not specifically focused on Nissan.
One of those who has spoken to the FBI is former Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director J.C. Burns, who has had several meetings with federal agents.
Burns, who was fired by Musgrove in October, has declined to discuss the nature of his interviews.
MDA spokeswoman Sherry Vance said Friday that no one in the agency has been contacted by the FBI. The MDA is the state's lead agency working with Nissan and responsible for buying land for the project.
Vance said any type of investigation had nothing to do with the state's efforts to move forward with Nissan.
"They're two completely separate issues as far as we're concerned," she said.
Nissan plans to begin production in 2003 and eventually employ 4,000.
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