In the United States, an influential Democratic senator indicted for corruption for the benefit of Egypt

2023-09-23 10:07:23
Southern District of New York Attorney Damian Williams shows evidence of corruption charges attributed to Senator Robert Menendez, in New York, September 22, 2023. ROBERT BUMSTED / AP

Gold bars. Nearly $500,000 in cash, scattered among suits, drawers and a safe. A beautiful Mercedes. The search carried out at the home of Senator Robert Menendez (New Jersey), in June 2022, confirmed the suspicions of investigators. It fuels the indictment for corruption pronounced Friday, September 22 by the office of the prosecutor of the Southern District of New York against this very influential Democratic elected official on Capitol Hill, son of Cuban immigrants, essential on questions of foreign policy. Prosecutions all the more significant as the Republicans denounce a supposed variable geometry justice, focused on Donald Trump.

Robert Menendez, his wife, Nadine, and three New Jersey businessmen allegedly participated in a corruption scheme between 2018 and 2022. In exchange for bribes, the senator, first elected in 2006, allegedly used his position for the benefit of these entrepreneurs and an authoritarian and repressive country: Egypt. According to the prosecution, Mr. Menendez, 69, exploited his position within the Foreign Affairs Committee, as the most senior Democratic member and then president, to promote the interests of Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi’s regime.

“Our man”

Egypt had a relay in the United States: the entrepreneur Wael Hana, who would have worked as an intermediary, with Nadine Menendez, to present several Egyptian representatives to the senator. Mr. Menendez enjoyed a “substantial influence” on arms sales and military aid granted by his country to Egypt. For his part, Wael Hana made his halal meat import business prosper, which allegedly served as a cover for the operation. Around March 2018, Robert Menendez allegedly participated in dinners with Egyptian military agents to conclude a corruption pact: he would facilitate arms sales in exchange for large salaries and a fictitious job for his wife. The chosen one will thus become “our man”as Wael Hana summarized in a message to an Egyptian official.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez attends a briefing on the war in Ukraine at the Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 20, 2023. JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS

After another dinner, on May 6, 2018, Robert Menendez transmitted, by SMS, to his future wife, Nadine, the identity of American diplomats stationed in Cairo, a message then transferred to Wael Hana. During this same period, the senator provided the contractor with non-public information about arms sales to Egypt. Finally, Robert Menendez agreed to write a draft letter, on behalf of Egyptian officials, intended to lobby his fellow senators to remove an obstacle in a major delivery to their country.

You have 40.76% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.