The District Attorney’s Office on Thursday added a charge in the case against Leland Wong, a former commissioner in the administration of ex-Mayor James Hahn.

L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley charged Wong with a felony conflict of interest count stemming from Wong’s tenure on the Los Angeles World Airports Commission. The D.A. alleges Wong voted on amendments to a Los Angeles International Airport concessions contract held by W.H. Smith while at the same time he was allegedly pursuing a business venture with W.H. Smith chief executive Sean Anderson.

Wong’s attorneys, Janet Levine and Jeffrey Rutherford, said the new charge was without merit. “This new charge is just a rehash of old, discarded claims. There are no new facts, (and) no justification for this new charge .We are confident that Leland Wong will be fully exonerated when the fight is over.”

In Aug. 2006, Wong was charged with 20 counts of bribery, conflict of interest, perjury and embezzlement during his service on the airport commission. The most significant of those counts centers on Wong allegedly receiving $100,000 in 2002 from an executive of Taiwan-based Evergreen Shipping. The case is awaiting trial.

The charges against Wong stem from a joint federal and local investigation of allegations of “pay-to-play” in contracting practices in the Hahn administration. Those allegations became a key liability for Hahn as he waged an unsuccessful re-election campaign in 2005.