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Ex-Atlanta mayor guilty of evading taxes

Posted on: Friday, 10 March 2006, 20:29 CST

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell was convicted on Friday of evading taxes but acquitted on more serious charges of corruption.

The two-term ex-mayor could face prison time after a jury found him guilty of three tax violation charges but innocent on four counts of bribery and racketeering.

"To a degree, my honor was restored because the allegations of corruption were totally rejected," Campbell, 52, said on local television after the verdict.

"I have great regrets that the jury found me guilty of anything but the charges are really about speech income that was not reported," he said.

During the seven-week trial, prosecutors charged Campbell accepted more than $150,000 in bribes from people seeking city contracts or licenses while in office, and spent it on lavish trips.

Campbell had $147,000 of unreported income in 1997, 1998 and 1999, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

More than 60 people testified, including former aides and mistresses of Campbell, who was the Democratic mayor of Georgia's capital city from 1994 to 2002.

Campbell, who did not testify, was indicted in August 2004 after a five-year investigation into municipal corruption.

Source: REUTERS

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