United States authorities found $90 000 stuffed in a freezer at the home of a US lawmaker under federal investigation for corruption and shady deals in West Africa, court documents showed on Monday.
Democratic representative William Jefferson was involved in bribery schemes and suspect business deals in Nigeria and Ghana, according to an FBI affidavit.
The latest in a series of US lawmakers being investigated for corruption, Jefferson has not been charged with any crime, and has maintained his innocence.
But two people, including his former aide, have already pleaded guilty to giving the Louisiana lawmaker bribes to help promote a company’s Internet technology in Africa.
Jefferson insisted on Monday that ”there are two sides to every story” and that he would not step down. He added that he expected to run for re-election in the November legislative elections.
”I expect to continue to represent the people who sent me here and to try and respond to their needs and their issues,” he told reporters. ”And I will continue to do that so long as they permit me to.”
According to the affidavit, in conversations secretly taped by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jefferson told an investor that the money was needed to bribe top Nigerian officials, including Nigerian Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, to help iGate, which is based in Louisville, Kentucky.
The FBI also videotaped him receiving $100 000 from the investor, most of which was retrieved days later in an August 2005 raid on his Washington home, the document said.
The marked $100 bills were wrapped in aluminum foil and packed into his freezer inside containers for frozen food.
The FBI affidavit alleges he obtained a total of $400 000 and other financial interests from iGate in exchange for his help in getting contracts in Nigeria, Ghana and possibly other African countries.
Jefferson’s lawyer, Robert Trout, said the ”disclosure by the prosecutors is obviously part of a public relations agenda and an obvious attempt to embarrass Congressman Jefferson”.
The affidavit was filed in court to request a search warrant for his congressional office. The office’s search was conducted on Saturday.
In Nigeria, Abubakar’s office said the FBI had cleared him of ”any wrongdoing” and that the $100 000 ”was never passed to Abubakar”.
Jefferson’s case is just the newest in a number of embarrassments for the US Congress involving allegations of bribery and payoffs for political favours.
In April, powerful Texas Republican Tom DeLay announced he would give up his House of Representatives seat in the wake of his indictment by a grand jury relating to alleged campaign finance violations.
Investigators still are gathering evidence against up to 20 suspected lawmakers, including DeLay, linked to super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has already pleaded guilty to various charges related to influence-peddling, fraud and corruption.
And the corruption conviction of Republican California Representative Randy ”Duke” Cunningham has expanded into an investigation into crooked contracting worth hundreds of millions of dollars touching other lawmakers, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defence.
Jefferson’s case has embarrassed the opposition Democrats, who have for months been pointing to the other scandals as evidence of a ”culture of corruption” within the Republican-dominated government. – Sapa-AFP