The Times reports that Singh was attempting to obtain favorable lease terms for a restaurant he owned which happened to be on city property. Court documents revealed de Blasio aided Singh in exchange for the contributions; the documents also stated that an unnamed senior aide to Mr. de Blasio set up a meeting in order to urge a city agency to help Singh with the terms of the lease.
Singh told the court, “I gave these donations to the elected official in exchange for efforts by that official and other city officials to obtain a lease renewal from the city agency for my restaurant on terms that were favorable to me.”
The Times adds:
Last March, federal prosecutors who had investigated Mr. de Blasio’s fund-raising decided not to bring criminal charges against the mayor based on what they described as a high burden of proof and the challenge of proving corruption without “evidence of personal profit.”
Just waiting for a large enough rat trap of a scandal, he’ll bite.
How about “evidence of self-interest” or some such action.
A bribe is a bribe is a bribe is common operating procedure in the land of the big grease-yer-palm city. In Chicago of course this is called “lease negotiations.”
Ain’t nothing to se here – move along.
Moral of the story: When bribing an elected official, always get a receipt.
It happens all the time, its part of our political culture.
As said in the Menendez trial – friends do favors for friends. The question is – How much does it cost to be DeBlasio’s friend? In the case of Menendez is was a few million and underage hookers.
Annnd di Blasio will be acquitted for receiving the bribe, just the mirror image of Secretary Fall.