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corruption charges
According to US media reports, the Department of Justice is preparing to bring criminal corruption charges against Democratic Senator Robert Menendez.
Robert Menendez is alleged to have used his New Jersey office to promote the interests of a Democratic donor, in exchange for gifts.
Attorney General Eric Holder has reportedly given prosecutors permission to proceed with charges.
Senator Robert Menendez has labeled the probe a smear campaign.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said on March 6 at a press conference in New Jersey.
“Let me very clear, very clear. I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law.”
An official announcement from prosecutors is expected in the coming weeks.
Robert Menendez is one of the highest-ranking Hispanic members of Congress and a former chairman of the Senate’s foreign relations committee.
He is also one of President Barack Obama’s strongest opponents on lifting the embargo on Cuba and negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program.
For the past two years, Robert Menendez has faced an investigation into his relationship with friend and donor Dr. Salomon Melgen, following accusations that he paid for underage prostitutes for the senator in the Dominican Republic.
Senator Robert Menendez vehemently disputed the claims and the allegations were eventually withdrawn.
FBI officials continued to look into the ties between the two men and the scrutiny shifted to whether Senator Robert Menendez had traded gifts for official duties.
On March 6, Robert Menendez said that he had known Dr. Salomon Melgen for more than two decades and that their families had been “real friends”.
According to CNN, the government’s case focuses in part on plane trips Robert Menendez took in 2010 to the Dominican Republic as a guest of Dr. Salomon Melgen.
Prosecutors also are examining what role the senator played in helping Dr. Salomon Melgen secure a deal to sell port screening equipment to the government of the Dominican Republic.
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Egypt’s ex-President Hosni Mubarak should no longer be held over the killings of protesters during the revolution that toppled him, a Cairo court has ruled today.
However, Hosni Mubarak will remain in custody as he faces separate corruption charges.
Hosni Mubarak, 84, is awaiting a retrial for conspiring to kill protesters in early 2011.
The former leader’s lawyer successfully argued that he had spent the maximum time in prison under temporary detention.
In June 2012, Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for killings committed during the 2011 uprising that ended his decades-long rule, but in January a retrial was ordered because of procedural failings.
Cairo court ruled that Hosni Mubarak should no longer be held over the killings of protesters during the revolution that toppled him
There were chaotic scenes on Saturday as the judge presiding over the retrial, Mustafa Hassan Abdullah, withdrew from the case citing his “unease” in overseeing the proceedings.
The case has been referred to a different court, which is expected to appoint a new panel to hear the retrial.
About 850 people were killed in the 2011 crackdown during the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
Hosni Mubarak and former interior minister Habib al-Adly were sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill protesters.
But both will be re-tried after they successfully appealed against their convictions, with Egypt’s Court of Cassation citing procedural failings.
Habib al-Adly will also be re-tried for corruption charges.
Hosni Mubarak and his two sons, Gamal and Alaa, will also be re-tried for corruption charges, of which they were found not guilty the first time round.
Egypt’s former president has been in poor health since his arrest and appeared on a stretcher during his first trial and at Saturday’s hearing.
Deaths during the uprising were largely blamed on the police at the time, but last week a report was leaked which implicated the army in serious human rights abuses, including the killing and torture of protesters.
The leaked chapter, reportedly presented to President Mohamed Morsi late last year, contains testimony relating to civilians detained at military checkpoints who were never seen again and reports that the army delivered unidentified bodies to coroners.
Egypt’s Defence Minister Abdel Fatah al-Sissi denied the accusations, calling them a betrayal.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah presiding over the retrial of ousted Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has withdrawn himself from the case as the trial opened in Cairo.
There were chaotic scenes as the judge said he was referring the trial to another court.
Hosni Mubarak was convicted in June 2012 of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 revolt that ended his rule.
The former president was sentenced to life but a retrial was ordered in January after he appealed against the sentence.
About 850 people were killed in the 2011 crackdown.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah announced his decision at the start of the retrial at a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo.
Amid shouting in the courtroom – delaying the start of proceedings – the judge said he was referring the case to the Cairo appeals court as he felt “unease” in reviewing the case, Reuters news agency reported.
That court is then expected to appoint a new panel to hear the retrial.
Hosni Mubarak, 84, is in poor health and currently being held in a military hospital in Cairo.
Judge Mustafa Hassan Abdullah presiding over the retrial of ousted Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak has withdrawn himself from the case as the trial opened in Cairo.
On Saturday, he was flown by helicopter to the courthouse at a police academy on the outskirts of Cairo.
State TV showed Hosni Mubarak being wheeled into the building on a stretcher, wearing a white outfit. Wearing dark glasses and with an intravenous cannula on his hand, he later waved to the courtroom from inside a cage.
His first trial, at which he also appeared on a stretcher, lasted 10 months.
Two sons of the former leader, former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six aides will also be re-tried, facing the same charges as before.
Habib al-Adly was sentenced to life last year for contributing to the killing of protesters, and for five and 12 years for corruption charges.
Hosni Mubarak’s sons, Gamal and Alaa, will be retried on corruption charges for which they were acquitted in June, because of the expiry of a statute of limitations.
The former leader was also found not guilty of corruption.
Businessman Hussein Salem, a close associated of Hosni Mubarak, is being retried in his absence – he went to Spain after being cleared of fraud in his first trial.
The 18-day uprising in 2011 ended Hosni Mubarak’s 29-year rule of Egypt.
Families of protesters who died in the crackdown were disappointed that the former leader was not convicted of ordering the killings.
There was also been anger among some that he has not faced trial for abuses allegedly committed earlier in his rule.
News of the retrial has been overshadowed by the political instability and insecurity which followed the revolution.
Deaths during the uprising were largely blamed on the police at the time, but last week a report was leaked which implicated the army in serious human rights abuses at the time, including the killing and torture of protesters.
The leaked chapter, reportedly presented to President Mohamed Morsi late last year, contains testimony relating to civilians detained at military checkpoints who were never seen again and reports that the army delivered unidentified bodies to coroners.
Egypt’s Defence Minister Abdel Fatah al-Sissi denied the accusations, calling them a betrayal.
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Elba Esther Gordillo, known as Mexico’s most powerful woman, has been arrested on corruption charges.
Elba Esther Gordillo, who runs the 1.5 million-member Mexican teachers’ union, is alleged to have diverted about $200 million from union funds to personal accounts.
No-one from her legal team has responded to the allegations, but in the past Elba Esther Gordillo has denied any wrongdoing in handling the funds.
The arrest came after major reforms to the education system on Monday.
President Enrique Pena Nieto signed the sweeping reforms, which seek to change a system dominated by Elba Esther Gordillo in which teaching positions could be sold or inherited.
“We are looking at a case in which the funds of education workers have been illegally misused, for the benefit of several people, among them Elba Esther Gordillo,” Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said.
His office alleges Elba Esther Gordillo, 68, used the money on property, including in the US, private airplanes and plastic surgery.
Elba Esther Gordillo is one of the highest profile figures in Mexican political life, known simply as “la maestra” or “the teacher”.
For more than 20 years she has led the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE).
With an estimated 1.5 million members, the SNTE is considered Latin America’s most powerful union.
Elba Esther Gordillo, who runs the 1.5 million-member Mexican teachers’ union, is alleged to have diverted about $200 million from union funds to personal accounts
Elba Esther Gordillo has held real influence over governments and individual presidents by persuading her union members to vote as a single bloc, our correspondent says.
The teachers were also responsible for manning polling stations on election day.
Her union is very wealthy, and can count on an annual budget of tens of millions of dollars.
It is on claims that Elba Esther Gordillo mishandled those funds, allegedly diverting money intended for the union’s coffers to her personal accounts, that she has now been arrested.
The reforms appeared set to weaken the powerful teachers’ union, which has largely controlled access to the profession.
The union has argued that reforms could lead to massive lay-offs.
Critics also say the changes could signal the start of the privatization of education in Mexico.
Mexico’s education system currently ranks bottom in a list of members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The reforms will require teachers to undergo regular assessments, something that has previously never taken place inside Mexico’s primary and secondary schools.
Many teachers in Mexico are said to have a very low standard of education themselves, with some only having graduated from high school.
Another change is intended to tackle the problem of absent or even deceased teachers receiving wages.
Elba Esther Gordillo has been an outspoken critic of the current education minister and his approach to the reforms.
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Ray Nagin, New Orleans ex-mayor, has been charged with 21 federal counts of wire fraud, bribery, filing false tax returns and money laundering.
Ray Nagin, 56, mayor from 2002-10, came to national attention when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
Beginning in June 2004, Ray Nagin took payments, travel and other gratuities in exchange for city contracts and other favors, prosecutors said.
At least four of his associates have already pleaded guilty in the case.
“Mayor Nagin used his public office and his official capacity to provide favorable treatment that benefitted the business and financial interests of individuals providing him bribery/kickback payoffs,” the indictment reads.
According to the federal indictment, Ray Nagin accepted more than $160,000 in bribes from local businessman Frank Fradella.
Ray Nagin, New Orleans ex-mayor, has been charged with 21 federal counts of wire fraud, bribery, filing false tax returns and money laundering
In exchange, Ray Nagin helped Frank Fradella secure millions of dollars in contracts from the city in the wake of Katrina, including construction at the airport and sidewalk repair projects, prosecutors said.
Ray Nagin is also charged with accepting payoffs worth at least $60,000 from another businessman, Rodney Williams, who was given consulting and construction contracts with the city.
Frank Fradella and Rodney Williams have already pleaded guilty in connection with the case and are expected to testify against the former mayor, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
The indictment alleges that over the course of his time in office, Ray Nagin travelled with his family to Hawaii and Jamaica on trips paid for by local businessmen.
He accepted free travel by private jet to Chicago, Las Vegas and New York City, according to the indictment.
Two former officials in Ray Nagin’s administration have also pleaded guilty to corruption charges dating from their time at city hall.
Ray Nagin was a cable television executive before he entered public life in 2002.
He was backed strongly by white voters in his first run for mayor, styling himself as a candidate with bipartisan appeal and a progressive agenda.
Ray Nagin was thrust into the national spotlight during Hurricane Katrina and was re-elected to a second term as mayor in 2006.
Subsequently, a surge in violent crime, the slow pace of reconstruction, and the burgeoning corruption scandal at city hall undermined his popularity.
Since leaving office in 2010 Ray Nagin has stayed out of the political spotlight and has reportedly relocated to Dallas, Texas.
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Former Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase has attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head but he eventually shot his neck.
The incident occurred when police arrived at Adrian Nastase’s house to take him to prison, local media reports say.
Hours earlier Romania’s highest court had upheld a two-year prison sentence against Adrian Nastase on corruption charges.
Adrian Nastase, 62, who held office between 2000 and 2004, was convicted for illegally amassing about 1.5 million Euros ($1.9 million) for his 2004 election campaign.
Former Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase has attempted to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head but he eventually shot his neck
He insisted that the charges were politically motivated.
Current Prime Minister Victor Ponta, a party colleague of Adrian Nastase, visited him in hospital after the incident.
Adrian Nastase’s condition was “under control”, Victor Ponta told the Associated Press news agency.
Having exhausted legal challenges available to him in Romania, Adrian Nastase’s lawyers indicated he may appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Adrian Nastase is the most senior political figure to be convicted by a court in Romania since the fall of communism in 1989.
The European Union has in recent years put pressure on Romania to crack down on corruption among public officials.
