WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- The Independent Counsel's Office for the Whitewater matter officially ended operations Tuesday, though it conducted its last investigation in January 2001.
The office was established in 1994, and occupied mostly by independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
Starr started out investigating alleged financial improprieties at the Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan in Little Rock, Ark., and ended up recommending the impeachment of President Bill Clinton for allegedly lying in a sworn deposition about an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Clinton was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate, and Congress allowed the Independent Counsel Act to expire.
Starr's last successor, Julie F. Thomas, said in a statement Tuesday, "The Office of the Independent Counsel ... terminated all operations today pursuant to (federal law) and the (three-judge) Special Division's Order of Nov. 4, 2003."
The office completed its last open investigation on Jan. 19, 2001, when Clinton agreed to a law license suspension to end his legal vulnerability.
