The New Jersey Division of Investment gave almost $100 million to two hedge funds on the same day as a controversial bailout of a BlackRock hedge fund, it has emerged.

The pension fund awarded $49.5 million each to the Canyon Special Opportunities Fund and GoldenTree Credit Opportunities Fund in October, according to a memo from the division. A similar infusion into the BlackRock fund came to light when the fund asked for a second injection of $94 million to stave off its creditors. The Investment Division only has to make investments above $50 million public.

The pension was battered in the press and in Trenton when the BlackRock deal went down. The new revelations have attracted similar approbation.

“They’re going to have to answer why,” State Senate President Richard Codey, the former acting governor, told the Newark Star-Ledger. “They have to be understanding of the perception it can send and does send. The perception is the figure is $49.5 million to avoid public disclosure.”

It doesn’t help that the Investment Division has lost more than one-quarter of its assets this year. After the BlackRock deal brought demands from the statehouse for greater oversight of the division, Gov. Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs co-chairman, defended it, saying, “those kinds of decisions should be left to professionals like the people we have who run our investment portfolio.”