Indian-origin former mayor to plead guilty in federal corruption case

An Indian-origin former Mayor of a US city has agreed to plead guilty to multiple felony charges including obstructing an FBI probe into a corruption case by destroying evidence and making false statements to its agents.

Harish “Harry” Singh Sidhu, who was elected as mayor of Anaheim in California in 2018, resigned in 2022 after the investigation into the corruption over the attempted sales of a baseball stadium was publicly disclosed.

In court documents filed on Wednesday in the United States District Court, Sidhu, 66 also admitted cheating California tax authorities and making false statements to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) about his purchase of a helicopter.

Federal prosecutors filed a criminal information charging Sidhu with one count of obstruction of justice, one count of wire fraud, and two counts of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the FAA.

In a plea agreement also filed on Wednesday, Sidhu agreed to plead guilty to the four offences.

According to his plea agreement, Sidhu admitted that while the city of Anaheim was negotiating the sale of Angel Stadium to the Los Angeles Angels Major League Baseball club, he sought out and became a member of the city’s negotiating team for the stadium sale.

While on the negotiating team, Sidhu provided confidential information belonging to the city to people working for the Angels, so that the Angels could buy Angel Stadium on favourable terms for the baseball club.

After secretly providing the information he had received in his position as mayor, Sidhu later was recorded saying he expected a $1 million campaign contribution from the Angels after the baseball club purchased Angel Stadium, the plea agreement states.

Elected in 2018, Sidhu was the first person of colour and the first Sikh to serve as mayor.

Sidhu who became a US citizen in 1979, also served on the board of Friends of United States, an organisation that promotes India–United States relations.

“While serving as Anaheim’s mayor, Mr Sidhu took a series of actions that compromised the city’s negotiating position by providing confidential information and secretly working to influence the city’s decision-making process – all of which had a detrimental effect on the city and its residents,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Joseph T. McNally.

“Sidhu was elected by and pledged to work for the residents of Anaheim, but he violated that pledge and their trust on numerous occasions to look out for special interests,” Donald Alway, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said.

He admitted to deleting a July 2020 email that contained confidential negotiation information related to the potential sale that was drafted by lawyers for the city.

He also provided a confidential appraisal range to the Angels in 2019, months before the appraisal was made public, officials said.

Sidhu admitted to lying about the negotiations while being interviewed by the FBI including falsely stating that he expected “nothing” from the Angels after the sale when, “In truth, he was expecting to receive a USD 1 million campaign contribution for his election”, court documents said.

He lied about not using his personal email to conduct city business when in fact, he had, officials said.

He faces up to 10 years in prison for the obstruction of justice count, up to 20 years for the wire fraud count, and up to five years for each false statement count.

His next court date is scheduled at the United States District Court in Santa Ana later this month.

“Former Mayor Sidhu appreciates the thorough and fair investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office leading to a resolution in this matter," CNN quoted a statement from Sidhu’s attorney, Paul S. Meyer, as saying.

An Angels spokesperson said: “It is important to note both the Plea Agreement along with the City’s investigation showed no evidence of any wrongdoing by the Angels Organisation.”