At least Britain isn’t that corrupt

Long-time readers may recall that I take a special interest in the art of corruption. And this week America has thrown up a delicious example. Democrat Senator Robert Menendez was indicted last week on bribery charges. This follows a raid on the New Jersey Senator’s home in which federal agents found more than $480,000 hidden in clothing and piled up in his closets. The agents also found 13 gold bars.

Menendez denies the charges and said on Monday that it has simply been his habit, for some years, to take thousands of dollars in cash from his personal savings account and store it around the house. He says that he kept it ‘for emergencies, and because of the history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba’. It is a strange defence, not least because keeping large wads of cash in your home is probably the easiest way to facilitate the confiscation of said money. This is called ‘burglary’, and is far more common in New Jersey than Cuban-style coups. Furthermore, during a search of his computer the Feds discovered that last year – after Menendez was allegedly in receipt of gold bullion from some Egyptians – Menendez used Google to look up ‘kilo of gold price’.

Doubtless he will be able to explain that he took a senatorial interest in the fluctuating price of rare metals and could often be found late at night researching the matter. But many people in America – including Democrats – are not confident about his defence. Still his party colleagues have stuck beside him. And I mention this not just because corruption exposed (or allegedly exposed, as the lawyers would have me say) should always be a good thing.