The aide, chief of staff Christopher G. Wright, 44, will continue working for the city, his attorney, Lisa Mathewson, said yesterday.

That decision came even as the city's chief ethics watchdog called for Wright's suspension, and as the Nutter administration indicated Wright must pay for his own lawyer. "We do not pay for criminal defense of indicted employees," mayoral spokesman Doug Oliver said.

Wright, who along with his codefendants made his plea before a federal magistrate, declined to comment yesterday.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office accused Wright of selling his position in Kelly's office to benefit two developers, brothers Hardeep Chawla, 46, of Ivyland, and Ravinder "Ravi" Chawla, 58, of Abington, and their lawyer, Andrew Teitelman, 49, of Newtown. Teitelman was also Kelly's campaign treasurer in 2003 and 2007. The Chawlas gave Kelly $30,000 for last year's primary, nearly 25 percent of his funding for that race.

Kelly, who is on vacation, said through his spokesman that he would make a statement by the end of the week.

The Committee of Seventy, the nonprofit advocate for ethics in government, said Kelly should "take a cue" from Department of Human Services Commissioner Anne Marie Ambrose, who suspended two workers indicted on charges of child endangerment.

"This is a matter of public trust," the committee's president, Zack Stalberg, said in a statement. "Mr. Wright has been indicted for using his Council staff position and influence to secure favorable treatment from city officials for development projects. If we are to maintain confidence in city government, our leadership must hold their subordinates accountable."

Kelly's legislative director, John Cerrone, said Kelly "will make a decision regarding Chris Wright's employment at the appropriate time, not on someone else's schedule."

"I think it's interesting to note that the Committee of Seventy has appointed itself judge, jury and executioner," Cerrone said. "I suppose the notion of innocence before guilt does not apply in their world."

The indictment says the Chawlas became Kelly's "primary constituents" through their relationship with Wright, who accepted a $1,000 check from the brothers, use of an apartment for nearly a year, and free legal services from Teitelman.

In return, the indictment continues, Wright wrote legislation for the Chawlas, intervened with city agencies, set up introductions, and even got Kelly to write a letter of recommendation for Hardeep Chawla in 2006, when the developer was facing sentencing in an unrelated federal case. Hardeep Chawla spent five months in prison for lying to a federal agency in connection with an IRS lease of one of his buildings.

All four have denied the most recent charges, and yesterday Ravinder Chawla's lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, said there "is clearly going to be a trial" in the case.

Wright, a 20-year-city employee who began working for Kelly during his first term in 1988 (Kelly has served in Council from 1988 to 1992 and 2003 to present), will keep collecting his $91,179 salary. If Wright is convicted, however, his pension could be endangered.

Wright faces 37 to 46 months in prison if convicted.

In an interview, Stalberg said the case, and Kelly's close relationship with the Chawlas, underlined the need for a mayoral commission to examine the city's campaign-finance laws and how they held up in the 2007 election. Stalberg said the Wright case raised the question: "Exactly how close can someone who wants favors from city government be to a campaign?"

Mayor Nutter, in an interview yesterday, said he planned to fulfill a campaign promise by forming such a commission in the fall, but not because of the Wright case.

"It's an important enough issue to merit review on its own," Nutter said. Nutter, who received at least $6,000 from the Chawlas and their partnerships for his mayoral campaign last year, said he would "look at the facts in the case" and decide whether to keep the Chawlas' contributions.