NYS comptroller denies role in pension kickbacks

NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on Thursday denied he had taken part in a pension kickback scheme being probed by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

"I have managed the Office of the State Comptroller and the New York State Common Retirement Fund with transparency and integrity from the start of my tenure," the comptroller said in a statement.

"Any suggestion or innuendo to the contrary is baseless," DiNapoli continued.

Cuomo, on a telephone conference call with reporters on Thursday, confirmed that his investigation for the first time had expanded from the administration of the former state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, to DiNapoli, who succeeded Hevesi in 2007. (Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by James Dalgleish)