Thread: MD: Gas station owner sentenced in bribery case

Gas station owner sentenced in bribery case
By Ben Penserga • Staff Writer • September 11, 2008

BALTIMORE -- A Snow Hill man will spend three years in prision for trying to bribe state and federal officals in a scheme that cluminated in raids on several Lower Shore businesses last fall.

Javed Iqbal, 40, was also given three years supervised release Tuesday for a racketeering conspiracy related to a scheme to bribe officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to illegally obtain green cards and the Maryland Comptroller's Office to receive abatement of state taxes, said officials from the U. S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

Iqbal's sentencing adds to the more than 20 people already jailed in the scam. Mohammad Ijaz, 43, of Snow Hill, pleaded guilty to the racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced June 25 to four years in prison and Saeed Ahmed, 46, will be sentenced Nov. 5 for his part in the scheme.

Iqbal was employed by Ijaz and another associate who owned and operated convenience stores and gas stations in Snow Hill. In January 2005, the associate sought to have a cooperating witness, who held himself out to be involved in large-scale international drug trafficking and international smuggling of counterfeit cigarettes, assist with payment of bribes to abate $788,000 in state taxes assessed against the businesses.

The cooperating witness, acting at the direction of federal law enforcement, said that he would facilitate payment of the bribes to his alleged contacts in the Maryland State Comptroller's Office.

Between April and May of 2005, Iqbal, Ijaz and their associate gave the cooperating witness four bribe payments totaling $200,000 with the understanding that the money would be provided to a Maryland state tax official to erase the sales and use taxes for the businesses. The Comptroller's Office subsequently provided false letters which the cooperating witness gave to Ijaz and the associate to confirm that their tax bills had been swept under the rug.

In March 2005, the associate sought to have the cooperating witness fraudulently obtain green cards for their associates in exchange for bribes.

From May 2005 to September 2007, Iqbal and his coconspirators gave the cooperating witness a total of $524,950, with an additional $55,050 forthcoming for partially completed bribes, to pass on to an individual believed to be an official with ICE. This scheme included $15,000 which Iqbal gave to the cooperating witness to fraudulently obtain a green card for himself, which Iqbal received March 3, 2006.
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BALTIMORE -- A Snow Hill man will spend three years in prision for trying to bribe state and federal officals in a scheme that cluminated in raids on several Lower Shore businesses last fall.

Javed Iqbal, 40, was also given three years supervised release Tuesday for a racketeering conspiracy related to a scheme to bribe officials with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to illegally obtain green cards and the Maryland Comptroller's Office to receive abatement of state taxes, said officials from the U. S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

REMEMBER THIS BECAUSE THIS IS THE LOOPHOLE... ALL FOREIGNERS WANT I-9'S AND GREEN CARDS AND ETC. THEN THE AMERICANS JOBS ARE THEIR'S LEGALLY AND THE BABIES PRODUCED ARE AMERICANS?