The disclosure contradicts claims by Joseph D. Carruth, who said he made the recordings in June 2005 while working with county prosecutors who were investigating allegations of possible grade-rigging at Camden's Dr. Charles E. Brimm Medical Arts High.

"We were unaware of those tapes," said Richard Minardi, spokesman for acting county Prosecutor Joshua M. Ottenberg. "If we were unaware of them and we hadn't seen them, then it wasn't under our direction."

Carruth insisted yesterday that the recording was made as part of the prosecutor's criminal investigation, and that the tape was among at least 10 that he turned over to prosecutors.

"For somebody to say that never happened, come on," Carruth said.

Carruth has alleged that Assistant Superintendent Luis Pagan instructed him in early 2005 to change test answers on the state High School Proficiency Assessment math test for 11th graders at Brimm, where Carruth was the principal.

The school district's special investigator, Edward F. Borden Jr., last month declared Carruth's allegation against Pagan to be untrue.

Carruth then fired back by making public the tape of two phone calls with Philip E. Freeman, the Camden school board president.

Carruth and his attorneys said the recording would clear his name, but it continues to raise questions.

The state Attorney General's Office is conducting a wide-ranging criminal probe in the Camden school system, including the cheating allegations.

In the latest twist in the tape saga, Borden last month asked prosecutors to surrender any tapes or transcripts of conversations Carruth recorded of Freeman. The request was made five days after Borden released his report. In a letter last week to Borden, Ottenberg said that prosecutors learned about the tape through newspaper articles and did not have a copy. The letter was released yesterday by the school district.

Freeman questioned the motives of Carruth and his legal team. "It's truly shameful and a testimony to their deceit and dishonesty in attempting to discredit my reputation and Mr. Borden's findings," Freeman said. "They have violated the public trust."

Eric Taylor, one of Carruth's attorneys, said in a statement yesterday that Carruth had been acting under "a rather broad mandate" from the prosecutor to tape any conversation related to the test scandal.

Carruth and his attorneys said when they released recordings of the June 2 and June 3 phone calls that the tape corroborated Carruth's version of events surrounding the rigged test scores. The tapes do not explicitly describe Pagan's alleged pressure on Carruth to cheat.

Carruth mentions Pagan in one call, but makes no specific reference to test-rigging. Carruth has said that he refused to participate in the cheating.

Pagan has denied Carruth's allegations. He says he never spoke with Carruth about rigging test results.

Borden, a former Camden County prosecutor whose investigation of the Brimm test-score irregularities cost the district $90,000, said he was unaware of Carruth's tape until after he finished his investigation.

Carruth and his attorney said they told Borden about the tape and a copy was dropped off at his law office. Borden said he never saw it.

In his report on the scandal, Borden said he based his conclusion that Carruth was not credible partly on Freeman's recollection of his June 2005 conversation with Carruth. He cited seven reasons and several inconsistencies.

Borden's report concluded that "illicit tampering" was responsible for Brimm's high test scores in 2005. It blamed the district's director of guidance for alleged changing of answers.

In an addendum to his report to the school board that was released yesterday, Borden said the tape was consistent with Freeman's account that Carruth did not inform Freeman about the Pagan allegations.

Taylor yesterday called the latest report by Borden "a public relations stunt designed to discredit" Carruth.

The Prosecutor's Office has not released findings of its investigation.

The school board hired Borden in March 2006, after The Inquirer disclosed that Carruth had taken his allegations about cheating pressure at the high school to the county prosecutor, the state and the school district.

To read earlier stories about cheating allegations in Camden schools, visit go.philly.com/camdenscores