→①より続き
諸悪の根源の一つは、このような金のためにはなんでもする、という精神だ。今回の金融危機も同様の精神がもたらしたものであるから、臓器販売も同根であ
る。ここにメスを入れねばならないと、オバマ大統領が考えているはずであり、オバマ大統領とホワイトハウスが全面的に控えているから、FBIが逮捕に踏み
切ることができたのであろう。
これからもますますアメリカの腐敗した部分が次々と明るみに出されてくるであろう。これはアメリカだけではない。欧米も日本も、その他の国でも同様だ。
ようするに経済面から社会面、政治面までもこれからの世界は大きく様変わりしていく、と見て間違いないであろう。【転載終了】
【参考記事転載:翻訳なし】
Corruption Probe Brings 44 Arrests In N.J. and N.Y.
SLIDESHOW
A group of unidentified handcuffed men are walked outside FBI offices Thursday, July 23, 2009, in Newark, N.J.. to a
waiting bus for transport to court hearing as part of a major
corruption and international money laundering conspiracy probe.. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
(Mel Evans - AP)
By
Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 24, 2009
NEW
YORK, July 23 -- A two-year federal probe into a money laundering
operation taking place between the New York area and Israel ballooned
into one of the biggest bribery and corruption sweeps in New Jersey
history, netting three northern New Jersey mayors, two members of the
New Jersey Legislature, a raft of local officials, five rabbis, and a
Brooklyn man accused of trafficking in human kidneys, U.S. prosecutors
said today.
FBI
agents arrested 44 people in a series of morning raids, creating a
dramatic scene of politicians and rabbis in traditional outfits
handcuffed and being marched into the federal building in Newark, and
then boarded onto a bus for the drive to the federal courthouse. Among
those
arrested were legislators L. Harvey Smith (D) and Daniel M. Van Pelt
(R); Hoboken Mayor Peter J. Cammarano III; Secaucus Mayor Dennis
Elwell; and Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez, as well as the deputy
mayor and council president of Jersey City. The arrested rabbis
included Saul Kassin, the chief rabbi for the tight-knit Syrian Jewish
community in the United States, and the chief rabbis of synagogues in
Brooklyn and Deal, N.J.
A Brooklyn
man, Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, known in his circles as "the kidney
salesman," was also arrested as part of the sweep and charged with
enticing vulnerable people in Israel to sell one of their kidneys for
$10,000, and then charging waiting transplant patients in this country
up to $160,000. He admitted brokering kidney sales for adecade, federal prosecutors said in the complaint.
"It
seems that everyone wanted a piece of the action," said acting U.S.
Attorney Ralph J. Marra Jr. "The corruption was widespread and
pervasive." He said the politicians in New Jersey "existed in anethics-free zone."
The
huge operation was based on a single confidential informant who was
able to help the FBI obtain hundreds of hours of video and audio
recordings. The recordings include Hoboken's new mayor, Cammarano, who
turned 32 on Wednesday, allegedly bragging in a diner about how he was
going
to win last month's election even if he were indicted because he had
"locked down" the votes of Hispanics, Italians and senior citizens,
prosecutors said. A former city councilman, Cammarano is charged
withtaking $25,000 in bribes.
According to federal prosecutors, Thursday's
sweep was an outgrowth of a long-running undercover corruption probe,
known as Operation Bid Rig, which has already sent a raft of other
local New Jersey politicians to jail. According to a release describing
the operation, an FBI informant in 2007 began helping agents uncover a
money laundering operation between New Jersey, New York and Israel.
According
to the complaint, the rabbis used registered charities linked to their
synagogues to launder money from illegal goods, such as counterfeit
handbags. The person wishing to "wash" illicit proceeds would write a
check to the charity, then receive cash -- minus a handling fee of 5 to
10 percent kept by the rabbis.
The
money laundering probe mushroomed into an investigation into public
corruption and bribery when the same FBI informant was introduced to a
Jersey City building inspector, John Guarini, who allegedly took a
total of $40,000 in bribes and introduced the informant to another
Jersey City official, Maher A. Khalil, deputydirector of Jersey City's Department of Health and Human Services.
The
informant pretended to be a developer interested in building
high-rises, but who needed expedited permits and approvals. The
complaint says Khalil made the introductions to people he called
"players" in restaurants around New Jersey, and the informant would
then pass envelopes stuffed with cash in the parking lots afterward.
The
amounts were usually in the range of $10,000 to $15,000, going to
housing inspectors, planning officials, health department workers and
politicians.
Prosecutors said much
of the money was being solicited for the closely contested election
campaigns for city council and mayor earlierthis year in Hoboken and Jersey City.
The
same
informant also posed as a businessman, with a female FBI agent
posing as his secretary, to convince Rosenbaum that they needed to find
a kidney for the woman's critically ill uncle. According to
prosecutors, Rosenbaum replied that he was a "matchmaker" and had
beenin the business of selling kidneys for 10 years.【参考記事転載終了】