Washington ? The independent counsel who investigated former Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros contended in his final report Thursday that the Justice Department and IRS blocked his efforts to probe possible Cisneros tax violations.

People who worked in the Clinton administration denied the allegations by prosecutor David Barrett, whose $20 million, decadelong probe of Cisneros was the longest ever under the post-Watergate reform law.

It eclipsed the multiyear investigations by Ken Starr of the Clintons and Lawrence Walsh of the Iran-Contra affair.

Barrett’s report details a behind-the-scenes battle inside the government as the prosecutor sought to assemble evidence that Cisneros may have underreported his income by more than $300,000.

When Barrett went to the Department of Justice seeking to broaden the probe, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno allowed the prosecutor to look into only a single tax year, he reported.