News / Politics

Anti-Iran US senator says ‘not going anywhere' despite possible charges

Saturday, 07 March 2015 10:44 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 08 March 2015 12:18 AM ]

Robert Menendez, the Democratic senator from New Jersey

A US senator involved in congressional efforts to pass anti-Iran legislation says he will not leave office although the Department of Justice has reportedly decided to bring criminal corruption charges against him.

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on prosecutors' request to proceed with charges against Robert Menendez, the Democratic senator from New Jersey, CNN reported on Friday.

"I fight for these issues and the people of our country every single day," Menendez told reporters on Friday, "That’s who I am, and I am not going anywhere."

The 61-year-old lawmaker said that he has always abided by the law. He refused to answer reporters’ questions and said that “there is an ongoing inquiry”.

He also did not comment on the accusation that he accepted gifts in exchange for pushing the business interests of donor and friend Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist.

The prosecutors are currently looking into plane trips that the senator made as a guest to Melgen’s villa in the Dominican Republic.

When it first transpired that the Democratic lawmaker was under investigation in 2013, he decided to pay back Melgen $58,000 for the plane trips in 2010.

There is also another case which shows he supported Melgen's business interest in a Dominican Republic government contract.

He is accused of using his power to protect his friends’ business interests after getting involved in a debate over whether the US should donate port screening equipment to the Dominican Republic.

At the time, Melgen's company had undertaken to provide port screening services in the Dominican Republic something that was not being honored by the local government. The equipment could have made it more difficult for him to enforce the contract, which was worth $500 million over 20 years.

The former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been one of the detractors of President Barack Obama’s administration.

On February 27, Menendez, along with Senators Bob Corker Lindsey Graham and Tim Kaine, introduced a bill that would prevent Obama from removing sanctions on Iran until Congress reviews a nuclear deal.

However, the US president has threatened to veto the legislation, dubbed as the "Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015".

AT/GJH

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