US: Court indicts Senator Bob Menendez and his wife on bribery charges

New Jersey Democratic SenatorBob Menendez along with his wife on Friday (September 22) faced charges of corruption-related offences for the second time in a time span of 10 years.

Menendez, along with his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez, have been accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the influence of the senator, as per the newly unsealed federal indictment.

As per prosecutors, the bribes accepted by the couple included gold, cash, compensation for a “low-or-no-show job”, home mortgage payments and a luxury vehicle. Meanwhile, Will Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes also faced the charges.

This is the second set of corruption charges levied by the Justice Department against Menendez in a decade.

Previously, the senator fought off honest services fraud, bribery and corruption charges which were related to the alleged personal favours taken by him.

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Next year, Menendez will be going for a re-election. Since 2006, he has been in the senate.

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In a statement, Menendez slammed the indictment.

“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave. Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists,” he stated.

“The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent. They have misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office. On top of that, not content with making false claims against me, they have attacked my wife for the longstanding friendships she had before she and I even met," the senator added.

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All the allegations of wrongdoing have been vigorously denied by Menendez.

Speaking to CNN, he said in April, “This inquiry will end up, I believe, in absolutely nothing.”

The federal prosecutors from the office of the US attorney in New Jersey charged Menendez in 2015 with the multiple charges and he was alleged of abusing his power.

Prosecutors stated that the senator had allegedly taken a luxurious hotel suite at the Park Hyatt in Paris, more than $600,000 in political contributions and free rides on a private jet from a wealthy ophthalmologist Dr. Salomon Melgen and had provided political favours in exchange.

Menendez's corruption trial ended in a mistrial in November 2017 after the jury stated that it was deadlocked. All the charges were denied by both men.

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