Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday instructed State Investment Officer Gary Bland to initiate termination of SIC’s private equity advisor Aldus Equity Partners’ relationship with the state.

The decision comes after the FBI has questioned officials from two state investment agencies about Aldus Equity, a firm that does business with the state of New Mexico and is involved in a pay-to-play scandal in New York. The Associated Press reported on the FBI’s interest last week.

The federal agents met earlier this month with officials from the State Investment Council (SIC) and Educational Retirement Board (ERB) about the firm, the news service reported. Earlier this month both agencies suspended their deals with Aldus, which has advised both on billions of dollars in private equity investments. Both suspensions are pending internal reviews.

“At this time, we believe it is the most practical step for the Investment Office to take, given the realities of the current environment,” Bland said in a news release Wednesday.  “Private equity is a critical asset class, and under existing circumstances, we feel it appropriate to forge ahead.”

Richardson also ordered Bland and his agency to finalize new investment policies and bring them to the full State Investment Council for approval at its next meeting on May 26.

If approved, the state will require its investment managers to disclose any and all placement fees, marketing arrangements and other payments these managers make, relative to their investments for the New Mexico Permanent Funds.

New Mexico law doesn’t currently require the disclosure of third-party marketers, including public-relations firms and lobbyists, who help firms win investment contracts. But the governor recently signed a bill that, beginning in June, will require such disclosures from companies seeking to do business with the SIC, Educational Retirement Board and Public Employees Retirement Association on alternative investments — those other than stocks and bonds.

The governor’s action comes after New Mexico has found itself tangled up in the New York investigation, as some of the names involved in that scandal have popped up here.

It also comes on the heels of the release of state documents that show that Marc Correra, the son of a close friend of Richardson’s, made more than $10 million in placement fees by helping investment firms win state contracts.

Until a new policy is in place, Richardson has ordered a suspension of alternative investments by the SIC.

“In the past few weeks, several serious questions have been raised regarding the arrangements between the state’s external investment managers and the marketers those investment funds pay to represent them,” Richardson said in the press release.  “While this practice has been fairly common in the investment industry, the added potential for conflict of interests concerns me.  For this reason, today I am ordering broad policy and procedural changes be implemented by the State Investment Office, pending review and approval by the full Council next month.”