The judicial authorities are once again after Cuban-American Democratic Senator Robert Menéndez, this time to find out if he and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, inappropriately received gifts for alleged favors from an Egyptian meat export company.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Late last week the powerful head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee received subpoenas asking for information about his relationship with New Jersey-based Egyptian company IS EG Halal.
The investigation is separate from a 2015 investigation that resulted in bribery and corruption charges against Menéndez, 68, involving Dominican dentist Salomón Melgen. But the process against the senator ended up annulled two years later. In a separate case, Melgen was sentenced to 19 years in prison for Medicare fraud.
Melguen’s sentence was commuted in January 2021 by then-President Donald Trump, shortly before leaving the White House.
The current investigation dates back to at least 2022, when federal agents executed search warrants against New Jersey businessman Wael Hana, who heads IS EG Halal, the only one authorized to certify meat exports to Egypt.
Court documents reportedly indicate that prosecutors are investigating possible undisclosed foreign lobbying on behalf of the Egyptian company. Hana’s lawyer said his client obtained her certification contract with Egypt “without any help from any American public official.”
Last month a Menendez aide, Michael Soliman, told The New York Post that the senator was “aware of an investigation” but “does not know the scope.”
“As always, should there be any official inquiries, the senator is available to provide any assistance requested of him or his office,” Soliman said.
But last week Menéndez said he had nothing to comment on. His wife also did not want to speak on the advice of her lawyer.
The recently issued subpoenas, involving Nicolas Sacco, the mayor of North Bergen, New Jersey, are not related to any allegations about the Egyptian meat company, two sources told The Wall Street Journal. They have to do with certain legislative changes in New Jersey, but they are part of the general investigation, focused on Menéndez.
The subpoena for Sacco, a Democrat, was issued Wednesday, a day after he was re-elected mayor.
“Wednesday morning, Mayor Sacco received a subpoena requesting information and records on a number of different matters. […] who are being sought in connection with an ongoing investigation unrelated to him,” a spokesman for the mayor said in a statement.
“Mayor Sacco has been assured that he is not a target of the investigation, that he was only as a potential witness, he intends to fully cooperate and provide any information requested, as he would with any police investigation,” the spokesperson added.
It is not clear what type of gifts and what favors Menéndez allegedly received or requested.
