Top officials of the Oklahoma Tax Commission are testifying before a grand jury investigating the ongoing controversy over truck tags in the state, The Daily Oklahoman reported Dec. 12.

Commissioner Jerry B. Johnson and Commissioner Donald W. Kilpatrick of the Oklahoma Tax Commission testified Dec. 11. The jurors also heard that day from former commissioner Robert Anderson and were scheduled to hear testimony Dec. 12 from Thomas E. Kemp Jr., the Tax Commission's chairman.

The grand jury has indicted eight people in the investigation: Four at the Tax Commission and four who were agents hired by truckers to get tags, The Oklahoman reported. The agents are accused of pocketing thousands of dollars in trucker fees intended for the state and bribing Tax Commission employees.

Among those who face charges in the incident so far:

• Herbert Coles Jr., a data encoder fired by the Tax Commission, who pleaded not guilty in August to felony charges.

• Jason Frias, a trucking company agent, who pleaded not guilty later that month to charges of conspiracy to defraud the state.
• Gerald Wright, another trucking agent, who was indicted in October after being accused of paying a $3,000 bribe to a Tax Commission employee.