A former loan official for the Export-Import Bank has been charged by the Justice Department with bribery for accepting cash or goods as bribes on 19 separate occasions.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Justice Department has charged a former loan officer at the Export-Import Bank with bribery, alleging that Johnny Gutierrez on 19 occasions between 2006 and 2013 accepted cash and other things of value in return for "being influenced in the performance of his official acts."
Prosecutors filed charges Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and said they are seeking for Mr. Gutierrez to forfeit $78,900, a sum they described as "the amount of proceeds obtained" through the alleged bribes.
The charges, detailed in a letter from the office of the Export-Import Bank’s inspector general to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah) on Tuesday, come as a probe into the alleged bribery remains ongoing. Mr. Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, is holding a hearing with other lawmakers to scrutinize the Export-Import Bank on Wednesday.
"Because this investigation remains open as to other subjects and the charges against Mr. Gutierrez are currently pending in federal court, I cannot provide additional information at this time or in my testimony at the hearing scheduled for April 15," deputy inspector general Michael T. McCarthy wrote to Mr. Chaffetz.
The charges against Gutierrez come after four other Ex-Im Bank officials have been suspended or removed from the bank due to improper activity.
Gutierrez left his post at Ex-Im Bank last year as he was being investigated.