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WHITE PLAINS, New York, USA (AP) - Former police commissioner Bernard Kerik in New York on Friday pleaded not guilty to the federal judiciary on corruption charges.
A police commander who spoke to The Associated Press on condition that he was not given its name because the prosecution has not been officially announced, confirmed that Kerik surrendered and brought before a judge on Friday within hours.
Kerik was charged in federal indictment to be released Friday afternoon, according to a person close to the investigation and who spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury judice.
"It's a sad day when this office has to prosecute a former law enforcement officer, said in a press conference on U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia in White Plains, along with FBI and Internal Revenue Service Internal Revenue (IRS).
If convicted, Kerik could face 142 years in prison and a fine of $ 4.75 million.
The judge ordered him to surrender his passport and firearms, and forbade any contact with potential witnesses. Being released on $ 500,000 bail, secured by his home in New Jersey.
The indictment could worsen the electoral landscape of the former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, to close the first primaries.
Giuliani endorsed Kerik's nomination in 2004 as secretary of Homeland Security. However, days after President George W. Present Bush nominated Kerik as his office, the former police commissioner announced his retirement due to a tax discrepancies related to a former nanny.
Kerik is charged with mail fraud, tax fraud, making false statements on a bank loan application, making false statements to obtain a U.S. government position and theft of honest services, according to a person close to the investigation. The latter charge involves the abuse of office and defrauding the public.
But the indictment does not include charges related to alleged wiretaps related with the former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro during the investigation of alleged extramarital affairs of her husband, said the person close to the case.
The investigation began with allegations that Kerik, 52, as a city official, he accepted $ 165,000 in home improvements in the New York borough of the Bronx, paid by a construction related to the mafia who requested assistance in obtaining a city contract.
Kerik pleaded guilty last year of a failure in state court, admitting that the remodeling was a gift of illegal construction firm. The statement prevented from going to jail and allowed him to continue his career as an adviser on security matters. However, federal authorities deployed its own grand jury earlier complaints that do not report income by tens of thousands of dollars he received from his supporters and friends, and not paying taxes.
Kerik was police commissioner when the attacks occurred Sept. 11, 2001.
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