Religious corruption reported by Reuters

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

When religious corruption is exposed and religious leaders are seen not to be

upholding the spiritual and moral values expected of them, they lose their

credibility and reason for being there in the first place. Couple that with the

spiritual knowledge that Christ gave which is that the real temple of worship is

within a person and religious power as we know and see it today is definitely on

its way out. People are just not going to need it - it's as simple as that.

 

regards to all,

 

violet

 

 

 

By Edith Honan

 

July 23, 2009

 

NEWARK (Reuters) - Dozens of New Jersey politicians, officials and prominent

rabbis were arrested on Thursday in a sweeping federal probe that uncovered

political corruption, human organ sales and money laundering from New York to

Israel, officials said.

 

The 10-year investigation, dubbed " Operation Bid Rig, " exposed

influence-peddling and bribe-taking among a network of public officials and a

separate multimillion dollar money-laundering ring that funneled funds through

charities operated by local rabbis, said the U.S. Attorney's office in Newark,

New Jersey.

 

The cast of the 44 arrested featured Hoboken, New Jersey, Mayor Peter Cammarano,

who took office three weeks ago in the industrial city visible across the Hudson

River from New York.

 

Others accused were mayors of nearby Secaucus and Ridgefield, state Assemblymen,

a deputy mayor, city council members, housing, planning and zoning officials,

building inspectors and political candidates.

 

" New Jersey's corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the

nation, " said Ed Kahrer, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's white

collar crime and public corruption program in New Jersey, who has worked on the

investigation since it began in July 1999.

 

" It has become ingrained in New Jersey's political culture, " he said, calling

corruption " a cancer. "

 

Central to the investigation was an informant who was charged with bank fraud in

2006 and posed undercover as a real estate developer and owner of a tile

business who paid off officials to win project approval and public contracts in

northern New Jersey, according to documents in the case.

 

The public officials stand accused of taking bribes for pledging their help

getting permits and projects prioritized and approved or steering contracts to

the witness.

 

" CULTURE OF CORRUPTION "

 

In scenes that could have been lifted from the hit TV series " The Sopranos, "

about New Jersey organized crime, they met in diners, parking lots, even

bathrooms, officials said.

 

" The politicians willingly put themselves up for sale, " said Acting U.S.

Attorney Ralph Marra. " The victims are the average citizens and the honest

business people in this state. They don't have a chance in this culture of

corruption. "

 

The public corruption uncovered by the informant led him to the separate

money-laundering network by rabbis who operated between Brooklyn, Deal, New

Jersey, and Israel, authorities said. They laundered some $3 million for the

undercover witness between June 2007 and July 2009, authorities said.

 

" These complaints paint a disgraceful picture of religious leaders heading money

laundering crews acting as crime bosses, " Marra said. " They used purported

charities, entities supposed set up to do good works as vehicles for laundering

millions of dollars in illicit funds. "

 

HUMAN KIDNEY SALES

 

Rabbis accused of money-laundering were Saul Kassin, chief rabbi of a large

Syrian Jewish synagogue in Brooklyn; Eliahu Ben Haim, principal rabbi of a

synagogue in Deal; Edmund Nahum, principal rabbi of another synagogue in Deal;

and Mordchai Fish, a rabbi at a synagogue in Brooklyn.

 

The probe also uncovered Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, who is accused of

conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for a transplant. According to

the complaint, Rosenbaum said he had been brokering sale of kidneys for 10

years.

 

" His business was to entice vulnerable people to give up a kidney for $10,000

which he would turn around and sell for $160,000, " said Marra.

 

Several of the public officials were accused of taking bribes of just $10,000,

authorities said. Cammarano, at 31 the youngest ever mayor of Hoboken, was

charged with taking $25,000 in bribes, including $10,000 last Thursday.

 

Most of those accused were arrested in a sweep across New Jersey by more than

300 federal agents early on Thursday and were slated to appear in court in

Newark throughout the day.

 

The first 12 of the defendants, including Cammarano, appeared shackled before

U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo. Cammarano rocked back and forth in his

chair but betrayed no emotion.

 

They were granted bail ranging from $100,000 to $500,000.

 

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols and Ellen Wulfhorst; Writing by Ellen

Wulfhorst; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

 

VIEW PHOTO GALLERY AND VIDEO

 

www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56M3QU20090724

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56M3QU20090724?feedType=RSS & feedNa\

me=topNews & sp=true