F.B.I.'s Focus on
Public Corruption
Includes 2,000
Investigations
 |
|
Andrew Councill for The New York Times
"I don't think anybody recognized the number and
quality of cases we would generate," said Chris Swecker, an F.B.I.
criminal enforcement official. |
By DAVID JOHNSTON,
NYTimes on the Web, May 11, 2006
WASHINGTON, May 10 -- A
post-9/11 effort by the F.B.I. to concentrate on public corruption now includes
more than 2,000 investigations under way, highlighted by the Jack Abramoff
lobbying inquiry, the racketeering and fraud conviction of former Gov. George
Ryan of Illinois, and the multipronged corruption probes after the guilty plea
by Randy Cunningham, a former Republican House member from San Diego, bureau
officials said.
As one of the Bush administration's least known anticrime efforts, the F.B.I.
initiative has yielded an unexpectedly rich array of cases. The results
suggest that wrongdoing by public officials at all levels of government is
deeply rooted and widespread. Several of the highest profile cases in
which the F.B.I. played an active role involve Republicans.
Bureau officials believe that the investment in corruption cases is easily worth
the cost. In 2004 and 2005, more than 1,060 government employees were
convicted of corrupt activities, including 177 federal officials, 158 state
officials, 360 local officials and 365 police officers, according to F.B.I.
statistics. The number of convictions rose 27 percent from 2004 to 2005.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller
III, said the bureau was uniquely positioned to investigate corruption.
Recalling his days as a prosecutor in Boston, he said: "Having prosecuted
public corruption cases, you come to realize first of all that public corruption
tears the fabric of a democratic society. You lose faith in public
officials, it leads to cynicism, it leads to distrust in government."
The bureau's corruption effort has forced it to shift agents from other criminal
programs. Violent street gangs, organized crime and large-scale narcotics
trafficking organizations remain high priorities. But bureau officials
like Chris Swecker, the top criminal enforcement official, acknowledged that the
F.B.I. had reduced its investigation of single-victim fraud cases; smaller,
localized drug rings; and nonviolent bank robberies. "We've had to make
some very difficult choices," Mr. Swecker said.
Mr. Mueller is giving his first speech on the bureau's corruption effort on
Thursday in San Diego, which Mr. Cunningham represented in Congress before he
resigned and pleaded guilty to accepting more than $2 million for steering
military contracts to friends and supporters.
In the interview, Mr. Mueller said the F.B.I. paid no attention to whether a
public official was a Republican or a Democrat. "We have traditionally had
the independence to investigate corruption regardless of political affiliation
and no matter how powerful the official is," he said, adding: "Over the
years it has not made any difference to the F.B.I. People from both
parties have been investigated."
The F.B.I. is starting a Web site, reportcorruption.fbi.gov, through which
people can send tips on corruption, although not anonymously, to be reviewed by
agents at the bureau's headquarters.
Perhaps the most far-reaching of the cases is the one involving Mr. Abramoff,
the former lobbyist at the center of a sweeping federal investigation into
whether he improperly influenced decisions in Congress. He pleaded guilty
to corruption related charges in Washington and Florida earlier this year.
In Illinois, Mr. Ryan was convicted last month of 18 counts of helping to award
state business to supporters and misusing state resources for political benefit.
Not all high-profile cases involve Republicans. Last week, a Louisville
businessman pleaded guilty in federal court in Virginia to bribing
Representative William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, with more than
$400,000 in payments, stock in his high-tech company and a share of the profits
to promote the firm's high-tech business ventures in Africa. Mr. Jefferson
has denied ever accepting payments in return for government service.
Much of the public corruption caseload involves state and local officials.
The F.B.I. has reach into government operations throughout the United States,
with names like Lively Green, an investigation into corruption along the
southwest border; Wrinkled Robe, a bribery inquiry that led to several arrests,
including two state judges in Louisiana; Tennessee Waltz, a sting operation that
led to the arrest of several Tennessee state lawmakers; and Midas Touch, an
investigation of the New Mexico state treasurer's office.
The agency has long prosecuted public corruption, but in the 1980's and 1990's,
street gangs, drugs and violent crime had a higher priority. "In the field
offices, corruption wasn't always the highest priority," Mr. Swecker said.
He said top officials in the bureau's 56 field offices largely set their own
priorities.
"The director recognized the need for greater clarity and priorities," Mr.
Swecker said. "I don't think anybody recognized the number and quality of
cases we would generate."
In the restructuring of the F.B.I. after the Sept. 11 attacks, as hundreds of
agents were shifted from criminal work to counterterrorism, bureau officials
moved more than 200 agents to corruption as an area in which the F.B.I. had
almost exclusive responsibility and in which Mr. Mueller and his aides believed
the bureau could have the greatest impact.
"We looked at what we really needed to do that nobody else does," said James W.
Burrus Jr., a senior official in the criminal division and an architect of the
anticorruption program. "This is 100 percent ours."
Almost every one of the F.B.I.'s cases has been the subject of widespread news
reports by local news organizations, and Time magazine has reported on the
national scope of the effort. In some instances, for example in the cases
of Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Abramoff, reporters appear to have been the first to
uncover some aspects of possible wrongdoing. Agents regard such articles
as tips for which they can claim success if they succeed in bringing a case.
|
