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Ex-Chicago Comptroller Was Soooo Chicago Before Getting to Chicago

Posted on by Caleb Newquist

Amer Ahmad resigned as Chicago's comptroller about three weeks ago, but yesterday is when we found out just how qualified he really was for his job:  

On Thursday, Ahmad was indicted in Ohio on federal corruption charges in what prosecutors described as a more than $500,000 kickback scheme involving state investment business while he served as deputy treasurer and chief financial officer there.
 
Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton declined to answer specific questions about Ahmad, but she issued a statement saying the administration did not know about the investigation until the indictment was announced.
 
"It appears to be focused on alleged activities when Ahmad served the state of Ohio," Hamilton said in an email. "We have no reason to believe and have no knowledge of any such wrongdoing during his tenure in Chicago. But we will take any action that is needed — including conducting a review of Finance Department activities over the last two years — to ensure that Chicago taxpayers are protected."
[CT]
 

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Is the Commission making the assumption that those individuals that are actually reading the press releases need informed about what the money stolen is actually used for? Seriously, Bernie and Big Al don’t strike us Robin Hood types, even before indictments were handed out. No where in Bern’s statement at sentencing did he state:

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That’s not an official title but if you’ve got suggestions for someone else, please, enlighten us.


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He told the court that he did not conduct any independent auditing or verification of financial statements or tax returns provided by Madoff and “others” at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC in New York.

Friehling did not state who the ‘others’ were but the U.S. Attorney hinted that we’ll get to know sometime. For now, Friehling is a free man, out on $2.5 million bond until his sentencing which is tentatively set for February.

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