Bush ally faces 10 years' jail for $2.4mn in bribes

from Times Online

A REPUBLICAN congressman pleaded guilty last night to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for steering lucrative military contracts to business associates — the latest scandal to hit President Bush’s party.

Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a Californian Republican and decorated Vietnam War veteran, later tearfully resigned from the House of Representatives, where he has served since 1988.

“I can’t undo what I have done but I can atone,” Cunningham, 63, said, wiping away tears. He faces ten years in jail after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.

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