WASHINGTON: The father of Ami Bera, the only Indian-American in US Congress, has been sentenced to a year in jail for violating election funding laws in his donations to his son’s campaign.
Babulal Bera, 85, a retired chemical engineer who immigrated from Gujarat, had pleaded guilty in May, saying, “I have, in fact, done the crime.”
Prosecutors said he had solicited donations from friends and relatives for Bera’s first two campaigns in 2010 (which he lost) and 2012 (which he won, for his first term). He had either paid these relatives and friends to make those donations, or repaid them later, after they had contributed. He was funneling his own money through others to get around funding laws that limit individual contributions to $5,000 for primary and general elections together. Prosecutors traced $260,000 in such funding.
He will serve 10 months from the day he starts the jail term.
“This is one of the most difficult moments my family has ever experienced. I’m absolutely devastated and heartbroken for how today’s decision will impact our entire family. But my father’s accepted what he did was wrong, he’s taken responsibility, and I love him more than words can express,” Ami Bera said in a statement on Thursday.
Bera was found to be unaware about the violation. “To date, there is no indication from what we’ve learned in the investigation that either the congressman or his campaign staff knew of, or participated in, the reimbursements of contributions,” acting US attorney Phillip Talbert had said during the trial.
{{/usCountry}}Bera was found to be unaware about the violation. “To date, there is no indication from what we’ve learned in the investigation that either the congressman or his campaign staff knew of, or participated in, the reimbursements of contributions,” acting US attorney Phillip Talbert had said during the trial.
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