UNITED STATES:ALASKA'S TED Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in US history, has been indicted on seven charges of making false statements about more than $250,000 that corporate executives doled out to overhaul his Anchorage-area house.
A federal grand jury in Washington DC on Tuesday accused Mr Stevens of concealing on financial disclosure statements lucrative gifts from the now-defunct oil company Veco and its top executives.
At one point, Veco employees and contractors jacked up the senator's mountainside house on stilts and added a new first floor, with two bedrooms and a bathroom, the indictment says.
The senator, who once oversaw more than $900 billion in federal spending each year as chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said he has "temporarily relinquished" his senior posts on several committees, in accordance with senate rules, while he focuses on the legal battle ahead.
Mr Stevens (84), the first sitting US senator to face criminal charges in 15 years, adamantly denied the allegations.
He is the highest-profile lawmaker to be indicted in an Alaska political corruption investigation that began in 2004 and has resulted in seven convictions. Before the federal investigation started, emboldened legislators in Juneau had worn baseball caps with the initials "CBC", which stood for "Corrupt Bastards Club".
Interest by federal officials, including the FBI and the justice department's public integrity section, became public in 2006, when law enforcement agents executed search warrants at the offices of six state legislators, including Mr Stevens's son, Ben, a former state senate president. The following year, agents arrived with warrants to search the senator's house in Girdwood, Alaska.
Mr Stevens is among more than a dozen current and former members of congress who have come under federal investigation in recent years because of their connections to lobbyists and corporate interests. His indictment further imperils senate Republicans, who hold 49 seats but face the possibility of losing at least six in the November elections.
- (Los Angeles Times-Washington Post service)