The mayor of Mississippi’s capital metropolis stated on Wednesday that he had been indicted in an alleged bribery operation, and he stated it was a “political prosecution” to harm his 2025 marketing campaign for re-election.
“My authorized workforce has knowledgeable me that federal prosecutors have, in truth, indicted me on bribery and associated expenses,” Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the Jackson mayor, stated in a video assertion on Wednesday, WJTV and different information shops reported. “To be clear, I’ve by no means accepted a bribe of any kind. As mayor, I’ve at all times acted in the very best pursuits of town of Jackson.”
Lumumba, a Democrat, has been mayor since 2017. An indictment was not instantly out there on Wednesday in federal court docket digital information.
The costs come after undercover FBI brokers posing as actual property buyers invited the mayor to a fundraiser in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, on 3 April, WLBT reported. The brokers stated they needed to develop property in downtown Jackson and assist fund the mayor’s re-election marketing campaign.
Jackson metropolis councilmember Angelique Lee, a Democrat, resigned in August and pleaded responsible to federal bribery expenses as the results of the identical FBI investigation.
Lumumba stated his authorized workforce will “vigorously defend me in opposition to these expenses.
“We imagine this to be a political prosecution in opposition to me, primarily designed to destroy my credibility and fame throughout the group,” he stated.
The Jackson metropolis council president, Virgi Lindsay, launched an announcement asking Jackson residents to be affected person after the mayor’s indictment, WAPT reported.
“I remind myself that the presumption of innocence is a bedrock precept of our prison justice system,” stated Lindsay, a Democrat. “Due to this fact, I’ll stay steadfastly targeted on the work of our metropolis council, and belief the authorized system to unfold with out undue commentary from me.”
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