Washington ? Adding a footnote to a controversy the nation has largely left behind, Independent Counsel Robert Ray issued a final report Wednesday on the Monica Lewinsky scandal, saying he had enough evidence to prosecute and convict former President Bill Clinton but did not do so because Clinton had suffered other punishments.

Ray, who was appointed to finish the work of Kenneth Starr, announced on the final day of Clinton’s presidency that he would not prosecute the outgoing president. In exchange, Clinton acknowledged that he had testified falsely under oath about his relationship with Lewinsky, agreed to a suspension of his law license for five years and promised to pay a $25,000 fine.

An official White House photo taken from page 3179 of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's report on President Clinton shows Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky at the White House on Nov. 17, 1995. A final report by Independent Counsel Robert Ray concluded Wednesday that prosecutors had ample evidence for criminal charges against President Clinton in the scandal involving Lewinsky.

The report essentially brings to an end the seven-year Starr investigation, a probe that examined an array of allegations against Clinton and his administration, including the Whitewater land deals, the mishandling of FBI files, the firings at the White House travel office and the Lewinsky matter.

In all, the inquiry cost taxpayers $70 million, of which $12.5 million was spent on the Lewinsky investigation.

Independent counsels are required by law to issue final reports, and Ray used his to detail his decision to forgo prosecution.

There was enough evidence to prosecute and convict Clinton, Ray said, and there would have been “substantial federal interests” in doing so.

As a counterweight, Ray listed the penalties Clinton endured: He was forced to admit lying, his Arkansas law license was suspended, he was fined $90,000 for contempt of court, he paid $850,000 to settle a sexual harassment case filed by Paula Jones and he was impeached, only the second president to suffer such a fate.

“Based upon a consideration of all these factors, the independent counsel determined he would exercise his discretion to decline criminal prosecution of President Clinton,” Ray wrote. “This investigation, begun more than three years ago, is now closed.”

He added, “President Clinton’s conduct was indeed serious, but President Clinton already suffered serious, and in the independent counsel’s view, sufficient sanctions.”

Clinton’s attorney, David Kendall, dismissed the final report.

“The $70 million investigation of President Clinton from 1994 to 2001 was intense, expensive, partisan and long,” said Kendall, a critic of the investigation from the outset. “There’s still no Whitewater report, and there’s nothing new in this report. It’s time to move on.”

Many credit Ray, who took over from Starr in late 1999, with restoring order and method to a chaotic, sprawling investigation.

Ray has already issued reports on the White House travel office matter and the mishandling of FBI files, finding no cause for prosecuting anyone.

The prosecutor has also completed work on the Whitewater land deal, the matter that prompted Starr’s appointment in 1994, but that document has not been released.

Ray is considering a run for Senate in his native New Jersey, and Democrats have complained that he has improperly participated in political events while holding his federal prosecutor’s job.

“It’s not clear what the purpose of the report is other than to promote Robert Ray’s Senate campaign, Monica Lewinsky’s HBO special and the Paula Jones vs. Tonya Harding boxing match,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a former spokeswoman for Clinton.

Ray acknowledged that his decision not to prosecute “is one of judgment and is not susceptible to mathematical precision.”

But in the end, Ray met with Clinton in the White House Map Room on Dec. 27, 2000, and told the president he would not file criminal charges if Clinton agreed to a suspension of his law license and admitted wrongdoing in the Jones case.