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With the trial of former state Treasurer Robert Vigil complete, the U.S. Attorney's Office now has time to devote to a corruption case that could exceed Vigil's in prominence, complexity and profile.

The FBI said Sunday it has forwarded the office a "white collar, public corruption-type" case.

"It's basically with them," said FBI spokesman Bill Elwell. "As far as I know, we've completed our investigation."

What's "it"?

Prominent officials are mum, though insiders have indicated the case may be a doozy in a state already well-acquainted with corruption allegations against public officials.

Here's what's publicly known about the case, one that surfaced earlier this year:

The FBI has asked state or other officials for information about construction of the Metro Court in Albuquerque.

The state Auditor's Office, meanwhile, has asked for documents from Bernalillo County as part of its inquiry into "procurement issues" in building the Metropolitan Detention Center. The office has turned those documents over to the FBI.

The Auditor's Office also asked the county for information about construction costs of the state District Courthouse.

And, the FBI has questioned at least one former Bernalillo County official about allegations that someone gave former state Sen. Manny Aragon, an Albuquerque Democrat, money to ensure a certain contractor got work at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

"The insinuation was that because he was president pro tem of the Senate, we would cave in order to get a favorable result from him," former County Manager Juan Vigil said in July.

Vigil said that was not the case.

Aragon, from 2004 until July, was the president of New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. A member of the state Senate for 29 years, and president from 1988 to 2000, he accepted a $200,000 contract buyout for leaving the Highlands post. Highlands officials cited unhappiness with his job performance as the reason for his departure.

Aragon, when reached at home Sunday, declined to comment.

With the case at the U.S. Attorney's Office, another pressing question is when the office will take action.

The office is coming off months of work on the latest of two Robert Vigil trials, the second of which ended Saturday with the jury acquitting him on 23 counts and finding him guilty on one, attempted extortion. The first trial ended with a hung jury in May.

"They have been busy," Elwell said. "I know they have not been able to address it."

A spokesman for the office could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Political insiders say that if the main suspects are Democrats, the shoe could drop before the Nov. 7 election.

If there are Republicans in the mix, the office might want to avoid an "October surprise" and seek indictments later, political observers say.

Gov. Bill Richardson, when asked Friday how concerned he is about possible upcoming indictments in the jail and courthouse projects, said, "I really regret it. I don't know when they are happening."

Richardson said the FBI has not asked him anything about the investigation.

But he said he's made an effort to get state laws changed to better deal with corruption, changes that lawmakers will consider in session next year.

Allegations of corruption on the state District Court project emerged in a lawsuit filed in 2002 between business partners Harvey Peel and Raul Parra.

Peel sued his associates in four companies, including P2RS Group, Inc., and Technologies West Limited, claiming they were involved in racketeering activities, including illegal kickbacks.

In testimony for the case, Peel said Technologies West was paid $160,000 for work on the courthouse. His lawsuit alleges the company submitted invoices for services or goods not provided, or "for amounts far in excess of the reasonable value of such services and goods, with the intent to deceive or cheat the state of New Mexico."

Out of the $160,000, two checks - totaling $50,000 - were made out for cash. That was the same amount as a puzzling entry - "Manny - 50,000" in Technologies West's books, Peel testified.

Aragon has denied accepting any bribe from Technologies West, Parra or Peel.

In a Nov. 19, 2002 deposition in the Peel case, Aragon said he had never heard of Tech West.

Aragon said in a Nov. 19, 2002 deposition that he provided legal services to P2RS. Peel testified Aragon got a $20,000 annual retainer, according to court documents.

In other documents from the 2002 lawsuit, a contractor named Glen Perkal tells how he took precautions to protect his company, Integrity Networking Systems, when he was told by a court official to hire Technologies West as a subcontractor for telecommunications work at the state District Courthouse.

Before he struck the deal, Perkal said he wanted the court's request in writing to protect his company "from somebody coming in and saying that the money didn't need to be spent or that work didn't need to be done or whatever. Basically, it alleviated us of the responsibility for, you know, adding that cost into the contract or worrying about what it was really being used for."

On Sept. 25, 2000, Perkal apparently got what he wanted. A letter signed by Court Administrator Bennina Armijo-Sisneros specified that Technologies West should be awarded the work.

Perkal's part of the courthouse contract was $400,000, plus $160,000 for Technologies West, according to court documents.

In his testimony, Perkal said he didn't work on the Metro Court project because Court Administrator Toby Martinez wouldn't put a similar arrangement with Technologies West in writing.

Perkal said he called Parra and "told him we couldn't do the project the way he wanted us to do it, with all of this extra money involved, because we were concerned that somebody would find out, that we would get in trouble."

Perkal also said "somewhere in the neighborhood of a million and a half dollars" was the difference between the two proposals he had prepared, then withdrew, for work on Metro Court.