Democrat senator accused of accepting bribes linked to Qatar

US SENATOR Robert Menendez has been accused of accepting bribes linked to Qatar in a new federal indictment.

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that the Democrat had helped a businessman secure investment from a Qatari company in exchange for gold bars and cash.

The new allegations deepen the legal challenges facing Mr Menendez, previously charged with taking bribes to act as an agent for Egypt.

The 70-year-old has denied any wrongdoing and rejected calls to resign, but relinquished his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in September.

The new allegations, filed in Manhattan

federal court, accuse Mr Menendez and his wife Nadine of receiving gold and tickets to a Formula One race, in exchange for helping businessman Fred Daibes negotiate a multimillion-dollar investment for a real estate project.

According to the indictment, he introduced Mr Daibes in June 2021 to an unidentified member of the Qatari royal family who ran an investment company.

Prosecutors said Mr Menendez made public statements favourable to Qatar, and in August 2021 gave Mr Daibes an advance look at a press release praising the country’s government.

By May 2022, the Qatari company, which was not named, signed a letter of intent to enter a joint venture with Mr Daibes’ company, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said a Qatari official gave a relative of Nadine Menendez tickets to the May 2022 Formula One race in Miami, and Mr Daibes gave the senator a gold bar.

Later that month, after dining with his wife and Mr Daibes, Mr Menendez Googled “one kilo gold price,” prosecutors said.

Mr Daibes and Nadine Menendez have also been indicted and pleaded not guilty, with the trial set for May 6.

Adam Fee, a lawyer for Mr Menendez, said that prosecutors lacked proof of any wrongdoing and that “at all times, Senator Menendez acted entirely appropriately with respect to Qatar, Egypt, and the many other countries he routinely interacts with.”