According to reports from top international news agencies, the US Justice Department has indicted high-ranking Senator Bob Menendez, a well-known figure in Bangladesh, for allegedly taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes.
On Friday, federal prosecutors filed charges against the prominent US Senator, claiming that the Justice Department had discovered gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash inside his residence.
Additionally, according to the prosecution, they obtained proof that Menendez had given the Egyptian government critical information in order to support an Egyptian-American businessman’s monopoly protection.
Three years ago, when Menendez was the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and several of his colleagues encouraged the then-Trump administration to impose sanctions on Bangladesh, Menendez’s name became well-known in that nation.
Sixty-nine-year-old Menendez along with several of his colleagues representing both the Republicans and Democrats in 2020 called on the then Trump administration to impose sanctions on senior commanders of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for carrying out alleged extra judicial killings.
“The senator and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for Senator Menendez using his power and influence to protect and to enrich those businessmen and to benefit the government of Egypt,” AFP reported quoting federal prosecutor Damian Williams.
Menendez and his wife angrily disputed the allegations, according to the BBC, but Reuters reported that Menendez later temporarily resigned as the head of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee while the matter is being handled.
However, AFP reported that Democratic party members had also called for his resignation, with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy calling the accusations “deeply disturbing.”
“The alleged facts are so serious that they compromised the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state. Therefore, I am calling for his immediate resignation,” he said in a statement.
The BBC report said the pair each faced three criminal counts: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right.
“The indictment comes after a years-long Justice Department investigation,” the BBC reported.
The US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee records suggest the bipartisan letter addressed to the then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, the senators urged the administration to impose targeted sanctions on senior RAB commanders under “applicable authorities”.
CNN TV channel said the New Jersey Democratic senator was charged with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years.
AFP supplemented the information saying the case might place into question his hold on his seat in Congress and the Democratic Party’s slim majority in the Senate.
According to AP news agency a growing number of Democrats are calling for Menendez to step down with Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman became the first Democratic senator to do so.
It said several members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, along with the state’s Democratic governor, have said he should resign.
According to Reuters Menendez has been an important ally to President Joe Biden as he sought to reassert US influence on the world stage, rally support for congressional aid to Ukraine, and push back against a rising China.
