America
Senator Menendez indicted on corruption charges
Washington, April 2
The US Department of
Justice has charged Senator Robert Menendez with having accepted gifts
from a long-time friend and campaign donor who wanted the lawmaker's
help in a dispute with federal agencies, a charge he attributed to
“political motivationsâ€.
The gifts came from Salomon Melgen, a
Dominican-born eye doctor who owns four clinics in Florida, Spanish news
agency Efe reported.
Besides assisting the ophthalmologist in a
conflict with Medicare about alleged over-billing, the New Jersey
Democrat is said to have pressured authorities in the Dominican Republic
on Melgen's behalf in a dispute over an ostensible contract to provide
port security.
"Every action I and my office have taken for the
23 years that I have been privileged to serve in the US Congress has
been based on pursuing the best policies for the people of New Jersey
and of this entire country," Menendez said on March 6 when the Justice
Department notified him that he was the target of an investigation.
The
61-year-old senator also rejected criticism of his relationship with
Melgen, insisting that they had been "real friends for more than two
decades".
In 2012, Melgen's business donated more than $700,000
to Majority PAC, a political action committee that supported Democratic
senatorial candidates.
Majority PAC ultimately provided $582,500 to aid Menendez's successful 2012 re-election bid.
Following
Wednesday's indictment, Menedez called the corruption charges
completely mistaken, attributing them to "political motivations".
The
New Jersey lawmaker, in a statement he read in English and Spanish when
he appeared before reporters in Newark, said he was "angry and ready to
fight" the charges.
He said that he had always comported himself
properly, and that the prosecutors who filed the charges were tricked
into launching the investigation against him three years ago.
Born
in New York to Cuban immigrant parents, Menendez was mayor of Union
City, New Jersey, and a state legislator before winning a seat in the US
House of Representatives.
He was elected to the Senate in 2006 after spending 13 years in the House.
Menendez,
the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is seen
as one of the most influential Hispanics on Capitol Hill.