USA: Former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik - protege of Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani - indicted on corruption charges

Bernard Kerik, a former New York police commissioner, was indicted on corruption charges on Thursday (November 8) according to media reports. It's a potential embarrassment for former mayor and now Republican presidential front-runner Rudy Giuliani. The two men were business partners and, with Giuliani's backing, 52-year-old Kerik was nominated by President George W Bush in 2004 to be secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik later withdrew his name from nomination after admitting he failed to pay taxes on a nanny, and other embarrassing disclosures about his personal life surfaced. WABC television reported that a law enforcement official said Kerik was expected to surrender on Friday in Westchester County, just north of New York City, where a federal grand jury was investigating his finances and business dealings while on the city payroll. WNBC television said on its Web site that Kerik would be arraigned on Friday. Prosecutors planned to accuse Kerik of trying to influence a probe of a contractor with suspected links to organized crime, other local media reported. The New York Times had reported on Wednesday that federal prosecutors would seek an indictment. Kerik's attorney, Kenneth Breen, was not immediately available for comment. Giuliani served as Kerik's longtime mentor, promoting the former police detective to a series of positions, including the chief of city jails. Kerik was police commissioner in 2000 and 2001 and stood by Giuliani's side after the September 11 attacks. After leaving the police force in 2001 at the end of Giuliani's stint as mayor, Kerik joined his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, and became a partner in the company's security arm, Giuliani-Kerik. He later formed his own security consultancy, the Kerik Group. Kerik was appointed to Iraq after the 2003 invasion, where he trained local police and was named interim interior minister in the U.S.-led provisional government after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Kerik pleaded guilty last year to state charges of accepting $165,000 on apartment renovations from a construction company that was attempting to land city contracts and which authorities were investigating for links to organized crime.

ITN Source | November 9, 2007

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