RALEIGH, N.C. - The former trustee board chairman at Wake Technical Community College appears to have broken the law by personally receiving $5,610 from the sale of property where the school later built a training center, the state auditor said Monday.

An attorney for the trustee board disagreed, contending that charges shouldn't be pursued against ex-chairman Don H. Perry because the lawyers said the conflict-of-interest law was different at the time of the sale, and it didn't appear Perry voted on the transaction.

Perry had an 8 1/3 percent ownership interest in Zip Developers, a subsidiary of Zip Capital, which in 2001 entered a $625,000 contract with Wake Tech to purchase 3 1/2 acres of land in Zebulon and build a training center for several community colleges. Perry acknowledged receiving proceeds from the sale, according to the office of state Auditor Les Merritt.

The review found no evidence that the college sought bids for the project, which is required by law for construction that costs at least $300,000.

Merritt also wrote it appeared Perry, who is no longer on the board, violated a law that it's unlawful when a public officer "derives any income or commission directly from" a public contract. The violation, a misdemeanor, likely would mean no active jail time.

But a memorandum by board attorney Blen Gee says the law didn't include that provision at the time of the sale. Neither the prior law nor current law expressly required Perry to disclose his potential conflict of interest with Zip Developers, Gee wrote.

Trustees can approve contracts with companies in which they have an interest of up to 10 percent. Since Perry didn't reach that threshold, "it is unlikely that a court would find that Mr. Perry's conduct violated the statute as it existed at that point in time," said Robert Zippay, the board's current chairman.

Zippay is not connected to Zip Developers.

The Attorney General's Office received a copy of the review Monday, an office spokeswoman said.

Attempts to reach Perry were unsuccessful Monday. Last year, Perry said he didn't believe he had done anything wrong.

The review also determined current board member Harvey Montague should have disclosed before a 2002 board vote on property that it was being leased from his son. There's no evidence that Montague abstained from the vote approving the $229,000 three-year lease, which already had been signed, the review found.

"The lack of advance disclosure to the board and failure to abstain from the voting process created, at a minimum, the appearance of a conflict of interest," the review said.

Stephen Scott, who became college president in 2003, said the board last year tightened its rules on conflicts of interest and now requires the board's approval before a contract is entered.

Merritt also recommended that the board adopt an ethics policy prohibiting a member's immediate family from benefiting financially from the member's position. The state's contract law only makes it illegal if a member's spouse benefits directly.