Amer Ahmad was convicted of fraud in Ohio when he was deputy state treasurer. That did not stop Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel from hiring him. Ahmad is now accused of violating the terms of his bail, and he fled the country.
He turned up in Pakistan, carrying a fake Mexican passport and a huge wad of cash, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Ahmad was carrying about $146,000 and 126,000 euros in cash when he was stopped by authorities Monday morning at the international airport in Lahore, said Usman Anwar, the Punjab region director for the Federal Investigation Agency, the Pakistani equivalent of the FBI.“He said he that he lived in America and lied that he never had American nationality,” Anwar told the Chicago Sun-Times from the FIA’s offices in Lahore.
“He said he came home to Pakistan and didn’t say he was involved in fraud or anything,” Anwar said. “We Googled him.”
The Internet search turned up articles about Ahmad’s corruption conviction in Ohio, where he was deputy state treasurer before joining the Emanuel administration in 2011.
His wife also accuses him of physical abuse, and feared that he would kidnap their children and take then with him to Pakistan.
He was facing a possible 15 years in prison in the US. Now he faces about 14 years in prison in Pakistan.
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See also from Michael Walsh at Unexaminded Premises, with a recent update: “Chicago, the Shame of a Nation“
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