Text 20324, 121 rader
Skriven 2006-05-22 17:26:22 av Alan Hess
Ärende: one more dirty
======================
politician.
*********

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.bribe22may22,0,891280.stor
y?coll=bal-pe-asection

From the Baltimore Sun
Congressman caught on tape taking $100,000, affidavit says
Agents later find cash in freezer; La. Democrat denies any wrongdoing


By Matthew Barakat
Associated Press

May 22, 2006

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A congressman under investigation for bribery was caught on
videotape accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from an FBI informant whose
conversations with the lawmaker also were recorded, according to a court
document released yesterday. Agents later found the cash hidden in his freezer.

At one audiotaped meeting, Rep. William J. Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat,
chuckles about writing in code to keep secret what the government contends was
his corrupt role in getting his children a cut of a communications company's
deal for work in Africa.

As Jefferson and the informant passed notes about what percentage the
lawmaker's family might receive, the congressman "began laughing and said, 'All
these damn notes we're writing to each other as if we're talking, as if the FBI
is watching,'" according to the affidavit.

Jefferson, who represents New Orleans, has not been charged and denies any
wrongdoing.

As for the $100,000, the government says Jefferson got the money in a leather
briefcase July 30 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Va. The plan was for
the lawmaker to use the cash to bribe a high-ranking Nigerian official - the
name is blacked out in the court document - to ensure the success of a business
deal in that country, the affidavit said.

All but $10,000 was recovered Aug. 3 when the FBI searched Jefferson's home in
Washington. The money was stuffed in his freezer, wrapped in $10,000 packs and
concealed in food containers and aluminum foil, the affidavit said.

Two of Jefferson's associates have pleaded guilty to bribery-related charges in
federal court in Alexandria. One, businessman Vernon Jackson of Louisville,
Ky., admitted paying more than $400,000 in bribes to the lawmaker in exchange
for his help securing business deals for Jackson's telecommunications company
in Nigeria and other African countries.

The new details about the case emerged after federal agents searched
Jefferson's congressional office on Capitol Hill on Saturday night and
yesterday. The nearly 100-page affidavit for a search warrant, made public
yesterday with large portions blacked out, spells out much of the evidence so
far.

The document includes excerpts of conversations between Jefferson and an
unidentified business executive from Northern Virginia. She agreed to wear a
wire after she approached the FBI with complaints that Jefferson and an
associate had ripped her off in a business deal.

Jefferson's lawyer, Robert Trout, contended that the prosecutors' disclosure
was "part of a public relations agenda and an attempt to embarrass Congressman
Jefferson."

"The affidavit, itself, is just one side of the story which has not been tested
in court," Trout said in a statement.

The affidavit says Jefferson is caught on videotape at the Ritz-Carlton as he
takes a briefcase from the trunk of the informant's car, slips it into a cloth
bag, puts the bag into his 1990 Lincoln Town Car and drives away.

The $100 bills in the suitcase had the same serial numbers as those found in
Jefferson's freezer.

While the name of the intended recipient of the $100,000 is blacked out, other
details in the affidavit indicate he is Abubakar Atiku, Nigeria's vice
president. He owns a home in Potomac that authorities have searched as part of
the Jefferson investigation.

Jefferson assured the FBI informant in their coded conversations that he paid
the money to the Nigerian official, even though the money was still in
Jefferson's possession when agents searched his home Aug. 3.

On Aug. 1, two days after Jefferson picked up the $100,000, the informant
called Jefferson to ask about the status of "the package."

Jefferson responded: "I gave him the African art that you gave me, and he was
very pleased."

When Jefferson and the informant had dinner at a Washington restaurant on May
12, 2005, the FBI was listening in. Jefferson indicates he will need an
increased stake in the profits of one deal, the affidavit said. Instead of the
7 percent stake originally agreed upon, he writes "18-20" on a piece of paper
and passes it to the informant.

That is when negotiations move ahead and notes go back and forth, ending with
Jefferson's laughter about the FBI watching it all.

Throughout the conversations, he makes attempts to deflect direct connections
to any bribes.

He tells the informant at one point that money should be paid to businesses
operated by his children. "I make a deal for my children. It wouldn't be me,"
he said, according to the affidavit.

In a different conversation, Jefferson seeks to distance himself from bribes
that must be paid to Nigerian government officials to facilitate transactions.

"If he's gotta pay Minister X, we don't want to know. It's not our deal,"
Jefferson told the witness, according to the affidavit. "We're not paying
Minister X a damn thing. That's all, you know, international fraud crap. We're
not doing that. We're not doing any of that that gets us [unintelligible]."

The affidavit also spells out "seven other schemes" in which Jefferson was
involved; nearly all were blacked out in the document.

Copyright + 2006, The Baltimore Sun | Get Sun home delivery

--- Msged/2 6.0.1
 * Origin: tncbbs.no-ip.com - Try the CROSSFIRE echo - all welcome (1:261/1000)