The Obama transition team knew about the federal investigation that derailed Gov. Bill Richardson’s nomination to be U.S. commerce secretary on Sunday. But Richardson was hoping to have his name cleared in time for the confirmation process by a faster-paced inquiry, his spokesman told the Independent Sunday evening.

“He was hopeful that he would be cleared by now,” Richardson’s spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said of the governor’s hope that a federal investigation would clear him in time for the confirmation process.

The governor informed the Obama transition team of the investigation prior to his being nominated last month as the president-elect’s commerce secretary, according to news reports Sunday.

Gallegos said he did not know what evidence had led the governor to think his name would be cleared in time for the confirmation hearings, or how long it would take federal prosecutors to complete the investigation. But Gallegos made clear that the governor feels he has nothing to fear from the inquiry because “the governor did nothing wrong. And he’s confident that the facts will bear that out.”

Federal prosecutors have been looking into the awarding of a lucrative state contract to a California company that made big contributions to political action committees formed by Richardson.

But there is no indication that the probe will end soon. In fact, the federal grand jury asked to review evidence in the case during 2008 has been released from its duty, meaning a new grand jury empaneled this year must take up the case all over again, including witness testimony. And that could mean a drawn-out inquiry. Federal grand juries, which prosecutors use to determine if there is enough probable cause to issue indictments, are empaneled for only a year in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press was reporting on Sunday that Richardson had given”assurances” before he was nominated that “he would come out fine in the investigation and the president-elect had no reason to doubt it.”

The AP continued in its report:

But as the grand jury continued to pursue the case, it became clear that confirmation hearings would have to be delayed for six weeks or even longer until the investigation was complete, said the adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity about the discussions because they were private.

Aides to both men insisted that Richardson made the decision to withdraw and was not pushed out by Obama. But one Democrat involved in discussions over the matter said transition officials became increasingly nervous during the last couple of weeks that the investigation was a bigger problem than Richardson had originally indicated.

Prior to Sunday, Richardson’s name had not been directly linked into the investigation into how CDR Financial Inc. — the California company at the center of the inquiry — won a contract related to the massive transportation-funding plan Richardson dubbed GRIP — or Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership — in 2004.

But previous stories have reported that the probe centers on whether staffers in Richardson’s office influenced the hiring of CDR to work with the New Mexico Finance Authority.

According to previous reports, “CDR made $1.48 million advising the authority on interest-rate swaps and restructuring escrow funds for $1.6 billion of transportation bonds issued by the agency.”

Meanwhile, in 2003 and 2004, CDR Financial gave $75,000 to Richardson’s political action committee Si Se Puede!, and the company’s head, David Rubin, gave $25,000 to Moving America Forward, another Richardson PAC.