By PHILIP SHENONF.B.I. Searches Official's Office in Ethics InquirySun May 21, 2006 15:54
F.B.I. Searches Official's Office in Ethics Inquiry
By PHILIP SHENON
Published: May 21, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 20 — The F.B.I. raided the Congressional offices of Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, on Saturday night as part of a corruption investigation focused on the lawmaker and on a Kentucky businessman who has pleaded guilty to trying to bribe him.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement that the unusual raid on a Congressional office began about 7:15 p.m., when agents entered Mr. Jefferson's suite of offices in the Rayburn House Office Building, and was being conducted as part of an "ongoing corruption investigation."
The statement offered no details of what was sought or of how long F.B.I. agents would remain in the building, which is across the street from the Capitol.
An F.B.I. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing criminal investigation, said it was the first time the agency had raided a lawmaker's office on Capitol Hill.
Robert P. Trout, a lawyer for Mr. Jefferson, called the search of the congressman's office "outrageous" in a statement released Saturday evening.
"The government knew that the documents were being appropriately preserved while proper procedures were being followed," the statement said. "We are dismayed by this action — the documents weren't going anywhere and the prosecutors knew it."
Mr. Jefferson, whose homes in New Orleans and Washington were raided by the F.B.I. last year as part of the investigation, has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, most recently on Monday at a news conference in New Orleans in which he accused prosecutors of choosing "to view the facts in the worst possible light."
Mr. Jefferson, whose district includes most of New Orleans, is one of several members of Congress who are under scrutiny by the Justice Department on corruption charges.
After more than a year of partisan deadlock, the House ethics committee announced this week that it had decided to open investigations of two lawmakers — Mr. Jefferson and Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, who has been subpoenaed by the Justice Department for information about his ties to Jack Abramoff, the former Republican lobbyist.
The pressure on Mr. Jefferson grew substantially this month when a Kentucky businessman, Vernon L. Jackson, admitted that he had bribed a member of Congress in an attempt to promote his company's electronics products to federal agencies and to governments in West Africa.
The plea bargain did not identify Mr. Jefferson by name, but his spokesman later confirmed that he was the House member — identified by prosecutors as "Representative A" — referred to in court papers.
In the plea agreement, Mr. Jackson said he had paid $367,500 over four years to a company controlled by Mr. Jefferson's family. In exchange, he said, the lawmaker agreed to use his influence to help Mr. Jackson's company, iGate Inc., win contracts.
The investigation of Mr. Jefferson, who is in his eighth term, has given Republicans a chance to try to divert attention from several corruption inquiries focused on their party's members in Congress, including several who were close to Mr. Abramoff and his team of lobbyists.
This month, the F.B.I. raided the home and the office of the former third-ranking official of the Central Intelligence Agency as part of an investigation that began with bribery accusations against Representative Randy Cunningham, Republican of California.
Mr. Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting illegal gifts from military contractors, including one who was a childhood friend of Kyle Foggo, the third-ranking C.I.A. official who announced his resignation this month. Mr. Foggo has denied any wrongdoing.
The Justice Department has said in court papers that the bribes to Mr. Jefferson began in 2001 and were made to a company that was "ostensibly maintained" in the names of the lawmaker's wife and children. The court papers said the payments were actually "designed to be in return for Representative A performing official acts in promoting iGate products and business."
The plea bargain with Mr. Jackson noted that "Representative A" had traveled to Nigeria on official business in 2003 and met with television company officials there to promote iGate's technology. The effort resulted in an agreement by the company to invest $45 million in a joint venture with iGate.
As they raided Mr. Jefferson's homes last year, the F.B.I. also raided the Maryland home of Nigeria's vice president, Atiku Abubakar, citing warrants for documents linking him and his wife to Mr. Jefferson and the business deals.
At his news conference on Monday, Mr. Jefferson made clear that he had no intention of resigning from Congress, even if he is charged with crimes. "No one wants to be indicted," he said. "But I am prepared to answer these charges formally when and if the time comes."
Mr. Jefferson said his family would fight on despite "the hell of a federal criminal investigation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/washington/21jefferson.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
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