New York

Senator Bob Menendez was bribed by a New Jersey businessman after the latter told a jury that he gave the lawmaker's wife a Mercedes in exchange for his influence.

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Jose Uribe, the businessman who pleaded guilty in March and is cooperating with prosecutors, was asked on the witness stand whom he bribed. 

Also read | Jury selection continues in US Senator Robert Menendez's corruption trial

Uribe replied that he had bribed Menendez and conspired with another businessman Wael Hana.

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Uribe also said that the senator's wife, Nadine Menendez, had accepted the bribes he paid.

The senator, his wife and Hana have all pleaded not guilty. A third businessman, Fred Daibes, has also pleaded not guilty.

What is Menendez accused of?

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Menendez and his wife are accused of accepting "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in bribes. It is accused that the couple accepted some of it in the form of gold bars in exchange for some official acts from Menendez as senator.

Prosecutors have said that Uribe sought the senator's help to keep at bay a criminal probe from the New Jersey state attorney general’s office into his associates. 

Also watch | US: Democrat Senator Bob Menendez charged for corruption

According to prosecutors, Bob Menendez called then-New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal to discuss the matter.

Grewal, who now leads enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission, testified on Thursday (June 6) that Menendez's alleged attempts to discuss a particular ongoing criminal case was "pretty unprecedented in my experience".

Menendez is also accused of accepting bribes to benefit the Egyptian government.

"Next week the truth will come out,” Menendez said on Friday (June 7). 

What Menendez is saying?

An attorney for Menendez, Ari Weitzman, said that his client had not violated the law.

"There won’t be a single piece of tangible evidence the senator accepted a bribe. There is an innocent explanation for the gold and the cash," Weitzman said.

Menendez has served in the Senate since 2006. He stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee shortly after he was indicted in September but has not addressed calls for his resignation.

(With inputs from agencies)