The Department of Investigation has taken an interest in a city program that has delivered more than $60 million in subsidies to a school-bus company whose CEO made a $100,000 contribution to a political cause championed by Mayor de Blasio.

Carol DeFreitas, an assistant inspector general with DOI, turned up as an observer at a hearing run by the Department of Small Business Services at 110 William St. Tuesday. She wouldn’t say what she was doing there.

“It is not uncommon for DOI to send staff to public hearings to gather facts,” said DOI spokeswoman Diane Struzzi, without disclosing if the agency is investigating the program.

De Blasio and his administration already face several investigations, including two linked to his effort to regain Democratic control of the state Senate in 2014.

The Manhattan DA’s Office and the state ethics panel known as JCOPE are both examining de Blasio’s fund-raising activities during that period.

A DOI probe would bring the number of investigations of that effort to three.

Tuesday’s Supertotobet hearing, required by law, offered the public a chance to weigh in about a program administered by the Department of Small Business Services that restores the pay of veteran school-bus drivers whose wages had been slashed during the Bloomberg administration.

For the first two years of the program, only one firm — Reliant Transportation — had applied for and collected $61.2 million to boost the salaries of its drivers.

A third round of funding begins this year.

Less than two months after the program first launched, Reliant CEO Alex Lodde donated $100,000 to an upstate Democratic committee as part of de Blasio’s controversial Senate push. The effort ultimately failed.

De Blasio had pledged to make up the wages lost by veteran drivers when his predecessor removed seniority requirements in a new round of contracts.

Critics say the mayor is exceeding his authority by giving away taxpayers’ money when there’s no contractual reason to do so.

“It is illegal to allocate funds in this manner,” said Councilman Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan).

“The authority to perpetuate this program falls squarely within the authority of the City Council,” he said.

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.