Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu announced on Monday that he has resigned from office amid an investigation that finds him accused of trying to shake down officials at Angel Stadium and other public corruption.
Sidhu said he is stepping down after being accused of bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering, according to the L.A. Times.
The announcement came on the tail of a similar resignation by Melahat Rafiei, who stepped down as a member of the Democratic National Committee and state party secretary. Rafiei is also implicated in the growing scandal.
According to FBI Special Agent Brian Adkins, Sidhu allegedly gave Major League Baseball’s Angels insider information about the city’s negotiations over the $320 million sale of the stadium and hoped the team would donate one-million-dollar to his election campaign in return.
The FBI investigation claims that Sidhu coupled a discussion of his re-election campaign with talk of the stadium’s sale.
Sidhu, though, refutes allegations of wrongdoing. His attorney, Paul Meyer, says that, in the end, Sidhu will be exonerated and that he never said he expected political donations in connection with the stadium negotiations.
“The negotiations followed lawful practices used in all major business negotiations,” Meyer said. “No closed session material, no secret information, was disclosed by Mayor Sidhu. The government affidavit confirms that Harry never asked for a political campaign contribution that was linked in any way to the negotiation process.”
Sidhu has not said if he is ending his re-election campaign.
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