FBI Focus Yields Spike in Corruption Cases
Because of New Vigilance, It Is Debatable Whether More Public Officials Are Corrupt
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post
Congress isn't the only place where public corruption is on the rise.
More than 1,000 federal, state and local government employees across the country have been convicted in government corruption cases over the past two years, including hundreds of crooked police officers and others who have dipped into the taxpayers' till, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said yesterday.
The numbers underscore the extent to which public corruption has become a primary, if little-noticed, focus of FBI criminal investigators, taking its place alongside preventing terrorism as one the bureau's fundamental missions.
All told, public-corruption investigations have surged by 30 percent in the past four years, to more than 2,000, officials said. The FBI now dedicates more than 600 agents and 15 percent of its criminal investigative resources to government graft.
"Public corruption is the top criminal priority for the FBI," Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding later: "If we do not investigate these cases, they perhaps will not be investigated."
The highest-profile cases have been in Congress, including the probe into the web of corruption surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff that led to guilty pleas from former congressman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and some Capitol Hill aides, and a separate investigation that led to a guilty plea from former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.). The FBI also prompted a showdown with House leaders earlier this year after it searched the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) in connection with a probe of financial deals he was involved in.
But most of the FBI's corruption inquiries focus on state legislatures, city halls and police stations, Mueller said. The list of convictions over the past two years includes 158 state officials, 360 local officials and 365 police officers, Mueller said. One hundred seventy-seven of the convictions involved federal officials.
(The rest is here.)
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post
Congress isn't the only place where public corruption is on the rise.
More than 1,000 federal, state and local government employees across the country have been convicted in government corruption cases over the past two years, including hundreds of crooked police officers and others who have dipped into the taxpayers' till, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said yesterday.
The numbers underscore the extent to which public corruption has become a primary, if little-noticed, focus of FBI criminal investigators, taking its place alongside preventing terrorism as one the bureau's fundamental missions.
All told, public-corruption investigations have surged by 30 percent in the past four years, to more than 2,000, officials said. The FBI now dedicates more than 600 agents and 15 percent of its criminal investigative resources to government graft.
"Public corruption is the top criminal priority for the FBI," Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding later: "If we do not investigate these cases, they perhaps will not be investigated."
The highest-profile cases have been in Congress, including the probe into the web of corruption surrounding former lobbyist Jack Abramoff that led to guilty pleas from former congressman Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio) and some Capitol Hill aides, and a separate investigation that led to a guilty plea from former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.). The FBI also prompted a showdown with House leaders earlier this year after it searched the Capitol Hill office of Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.) in connection with a probe of financial deals he was involved in.
But most of the FBI's corruption inquiries focus on state legislatures, city halls and police stations, Mueller said. The list of convictions over the past two years includes 158 state officials, 360 local officials and 365 police officers, Mueller said. One hundred seventy-seven of the convictions involved federal officials.
(The rest is here.)
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