New York top cop surrenders to corruption charges

FORMER New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik surrendered yesterday to face federal corruption charges, in what could prove to be an ongoing embarrassment for presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani.

A law enforcement official said Mr Kerik surrendered to the FBI in suburban White Plains. He was to be fingerprinted and processed, then taken by US marshals to the federal courthouse.

Mr Kerik, 52, the police commissioner under then-Mayor Giuliani has been indicted by a federal grand jury on corruption charges.

The indictment could complicate matters for Mr Giuliani, now a Republican presidential candidate, who endorsed Kerik’s 2004 nomination to head Homeland Security.

The charges in the indictment include mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, making false statements on a bank application, making false statements for a US government position and theft of honest services.

The investigation arose from allegations that, while a city official, Mr Kerik accepted $165,000 (€112,500) in renovations to his Bronx apartment, paid for by a mob-connected construction company that sought his help in winning city contracts.

Mr Kerik pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanour charge in state court, admitting that the renovations constituted an illegal gift.

The plea spared him jail time but his troubles resurfaced when federal authorities convened their own grand jury to investigate allegations that he failed to report an income of tens of thousands of dollars in services from his friends and supporters.