stelios
09-11-2007, 04:13 PM
Updated:12:02, Friday November 09, 2007
http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1609217.jpg
The former New York police commissioner hailed as a hero for his leadership after 9/11 faces criminal charges over alleged corruption.
Sources in the US claim that Bernie Kerik has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
He is to face charges including tax evasion, mail and wire fraud, making false statements on a bank application and making false statements for a US government position.
The accusations would also be an embarrassment for former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Mr Giuliani, the frontrunner to become the Republic presidential candidate next year, was close to Kerik - and at one point pushed for him to become head of Homeland Security.
Another charge facing Kerik, theft of honest services, essentially accuses a government employee of abusing his position and defrauding the public.
Authorities have alleged that Kerik took tens of thousands of dollars in services from benefactors and never reported it as income.
Earlier this year, he rejected a plea deal, and his attorney insisted he had done nothing wrong.
Kerik and Giuliani brief then Attorney General John AshcroftAn indictment is the latest chapter of a downfall that began within days of Kerik's nomination in 2004 to head the Department of Homeland Security.
At the time, he was billed by the former mayor as a no-nonsense, self-made lawman who helped restore calm following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
President George Bush had him sent to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion to help set up a new police force.
But once there he showed more interest in taking part in night-time raids than organising the police and left his job suddenly.
http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1609217.jpg
The former New York police commissioner hailed as a hero for his leadership after 9/11 faces criminal charges over alleged corruption.
Sources in the US claim that Bernie Kerik has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
He is to face charges including tax evasion, mail and wire fraud, making false statements on a bank application and making false statements for a US government position.
The accusations would also be an embarrassment for former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Mr Giuliani, the frontrunner to become the Republic presidential candidate next year, was close to Kerik - and at one point pushed for him to become head of Homeland Security.
Another charge facing Kerik, theft of honest services, essentially accuses a government employee of abusing his position and defrauding the public.
Authorities have alleged that Kerik took tens of thousands of dollars in services from benefactors and never reported it as income.
Earlier this year, he rejected a plea deal, and his attorney insisted he had done nothing wrong.
Kerik and Giuliani brief then Attorney General John AshcroftAn indictment is the latest chapter of a downfall that began within days of Kerik's nomination in 2004 to head the Department of Homeland Security.
At the time, he was billed by the former mayor as a no-nonsense, self-made lawman who helped restore calm following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
President George Bush had him sent to Iraq in the wake of the 2003 invasion to help set up a new police force.
But once there he showed more interest in taking part in night-time raids than organising the police and left his job suddenly.