Close X
Sunday, December 1, 2024
ADVT 
International

You're Fired! : Why Did Donald Trump Sack Preet Bharara After Saying He Could Keep His Job?

Darpan News Desk IANS, 13 Mar, 2017 12:04 PM
    Preet Bharara, the high-profile Indian-American federal prosecutor, who defied US President Donald Trump administration's request to resign, said he has been dismissed.
     
    "Today (Saturday), I was fired from my position as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York," Bharara said in a statement released through the Justice Department.
     
    From a jurisdiction covering Manhattan, Bharara was often in the limelight as he went after politicians and high-flying financiers.
     
    He and 45 other federal prosecutors or US district attorneys appointed by former President Barack Obama were On Friday asked by Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente to submit their resignations.
     
    Unlike some of his peers, he refused and was fired.
     
    It is customary for political appointees of a President to resign when a new one is elected.
     
    All ambassadors, for example, were asked in January to resign and they complied. Among them was Richard Verma, an Indian-American US ambassador to India.
     
    Bharara's case was unusual because unlike most of the other federal prosecutors he had been asked by Trump in November to stay on in his job. 
     
    He told reporters at that time that he had agreed to Trump's request to continue in his position.
     
     
    Preetinder Singh Bharara was born in Ferozepore in 1968 and immigrated to the US as a child.
     
    Bharara in 2013 set off a major diplomatic spat with India that backfired on Washington when he singled out an Indian woman diplomat for arrest and the humiliation of a strip search alleging that she had made a false statement in the visa application for her maid.
     
    Other diplomats accused of such offences were not similarly treated by Bharara and the humiliating action against Devyani Khobragade, a Dalit, brought protests in India and retaliatory action by the government against US diplomats.
     
    The then-Secretary of State John Kerry expressed regret for the incident and the matter was taken out of Bharara's hands and diplomatically resolved.
     
    Bharara's jurisdiction covered the US financial capital, earning him the nickname of "Sheriff of Wall Street".
     
    He prosecuted more than 100 finance executives for criminal activities like stock trading irregularities using insider information.
     
    They include several Indians like Rajat Gupta, the former head of the consulting company McKinsey, and a Goldman Sachs Director, who served two years in jail for colluding with the Sri Lankan-American hedge fund operator Raj Rajaratnam in a stock market scam.
     
    His ouster was probably greeted with a silent sigh of temporary relief by several politicians.
     
    Although a Democrat, Bharara has prosecuted several New York politicians of his party and the most notable among them is Sheldon Silver, a former speaker of the state assembly, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for corruption.
     
    While he was being ousted, Bharara was investigating Mayor Bill DeBlasio's election fundraising and close aides of Governor Mario Cuomo.
     
    He also prosecuted former UN General Assembly President John Ashe for alleged corruption before he died.
     
    Among Bharara's high-profile cases against banks, Citibank paid a $158 million fine to settle a case he brought against it for misleading the government about loans.
     
     
    In another case, Citbank made a $7 billion payment to the government after Bharara began investigating its Mexican unit.
     
    JP Morgan Chase was made to forfeit $7 billion for failing to inform authorities about a massive investment fraud by a client.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    In 2017, Canadian Economy Will Get Its First Taste Of The Trump Era

    It enters 2017 with lingering challenges and a potential new obstacle that could attract more attention than the rest: the economic unknowns of a Donald Trump presidency.

    In 2017, Canadian Economy Will Get Its First Taste Of The Trump Era

    Quebec Woman To Stand Trial For Allegedly Importing $30.5M Worth Of Cocaine Into Australia On Cruise

    Quebec Woman To Stand Trial For Allegedly Importing $30.5M Worth Of Cocaine Into Australia On Cruise
    The newspaper said Melina Roberge cried Wednesday as a magistrate ordered her tried on a charge of bringing a commercial quantity of cocaine into the country.

    Quebec Woman To Stand Trial For Allegedly Importing $30.5M Worth Of Cocaine Into Australia On Cruise

    Canadians Woman Sent Home For Trying To Sneak Cat Into New Zealand

    Canadians Woman Sent Home For Trying To Sneak Cat Into New Zealand
    A Canadian woman who authorities say managed to hide her 4-year-old pet cat Bella in her handbag during a trans-Pacific flight had her vacation cut short when border agents discovered the ruse at a New Zealand airport.

    Canadians Woman Sent Home For Trying To Sneak Cat Into New Zealand

    Shahid Afridi Sad About Detention Of His Fan In India

    Shahid Afridi said that cricket should be kept away from politics. The former Pakistan captain also said he would appeal to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to look into the matter.

    Shahid Afridi Sad About Detention Of His Fan In India

    India-Born Rajat Gupta Disagrees With US Court's Insider Trading Ruling

    India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta is not giving up his legal battle to overturn his conviction, arguing that he served two years in jail for conduct that is not criminal.

    India-Born Rajat Gupta Disagrees With US Court's Insider Trading Ruling

    Toronto Man Sentenced To 10 Years In U.S. Prison For Role In Drug Trafficking Op

    Toronto Man Sentenced To 10 Years In U.S. Prison For Role In Drug Trafficking Op
    Nguyen and a Canadian co-conspirator, Gurshuran Singh, recruited couriers to drive the drugs to Salem, Mass., where another man — Joshua Rabinovitch — then sold the drugs and returned the proceeds to Canada.

    Toronto Man Sentenced To 10 Years In U.S. Prison For Role In Drug Trafficking Op