Cunningham sur le même pied qu’Abramoff ?

Une théorie persistante à Washington est que le scandale Cunningham vaut bien le scandale Abramoff en intensité et en gravité, et que l’on aura des échos considérables lors des deux procès (Cunningham et Abramoff) qui se dérouleront parallèlement au printemps.

Bien que dans des positions différentes (Abramoff est lobbyiste tandis que Cunningham est parlementaire), les deux hommes ont accepté la même procédure de coopération avec la justice, les plaçant tous les deux en position d’accusateurs. (Cunningham l’a fait dans conditions particulièrement humiliantes.)

La courte analyse de Progress Report, intitulée « The Other Mega-Scandal », en date du 6 janvier, reste d’actualité. En voici deux extraits :

«Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pled guilty to to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials, capturing the attention of Washington's chattering class who believe Abramoff will incriminate numerous members of Congress. (They are probably right.) But another scandal — which could be equally damaging to powerful conservatives in Congress — lurks in the shadows. Federal prosecutors have already secured a guilty plea from former Rep. Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham (R-CA), who had admitted to “to taking more than $2 million in bribes in a criminal conspiracy involving at least three defense contractors.” But the investigation is far from over. In the end, two powerful House chairman — Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) of the Armed Services Committee and Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) of the Appropriations Committee — could become ensarled in the legal probe. Both men have close connections to military contractor Brent Wilkes — who is referred to as “co-conspirator No. 1” in Justice department documents — and who provided more that $630,000 in cash and favors to Cunningham “for help in landing millions of dollars in federal contracts.”

» It is conventional wisdom that the government agreed to a plea deal with Jack Abramoff — one of the most powerful lobbyists in Washington — only after he agreed to provide information about people higher up the food chain, powerful members of Congress. The government also gave Rep. Duke Cunningham a plea deal. Why? It stands the reason that he will cooperate in efforts to prosecute more powerful members of Congress, possibly including Hunter and Lewis. »

[Pour compléter cette nouvelle, nous mettons en ligne ce jour, dans notre rubrique de defensa, un extrait de la rubrique “Journal” de l'édition du 10 janvier 2006 de notre Lettre d'Analyse de defensa consacré à l'affaire Cunningham.]

Mis en ligne le 12 janvier 2006 à 16H14