Photo: Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images
A majority of the members of the Anaheim City Council called for the resignation of Mayor Harry Sidhu two days after it was revealed that he is under federal investigation for alleged corruption, in part in connection with the sale of Angel Stadium.
The city announced this Wednesday that Mayor Pro Tem Trevor O’Neil and Councilmembers Steve Faessel and José Díaz contacted Sidhu, through his attorney, to make the application.
With a letter three Anaheim council members sent today requesting Mayor Harry Sidhu’s resignation, a majority of the council is now calling for him to step down: https://t.co/i7YEivp7YK— Alicia Robinson (@ARobWriter) May 16, 2022
The Tuesday night, at a council meeting that Sidhu did not attend, Councilman Avelino Valencia publicly called for the mayor’s resignation.
“The deeply troubling issues that have come to our attention related to Mayor Sidhu since the 16 May 2022 raise serious concerns and questions about his ability to continue as mayor of Anaheim,” O’Neil wrote, in a letter to attorney Paul Meyer.
“My colleagues of the The City Council and I must now seek to support the continuation of City government, uphold the public trust, and continue the business of the City of Anaheim without the distraction and uncertainty created by the federal investigation involving Mayor Sidhu,” the Mayor added. provisional.
On Monday, the Sidhu investigation was disclosed after the publication of an affidavit from the FBI supporting the search warrants.
The affidavit , filed in Federal Court on May , says that the FBI is investigating whether Sidhu shared privileged and confidential information with the Angels during the negotiations for the sale of the stadium , if you actively concealed it in a Grand Jury investigation and if you expected to receive campaign contributions as a result.
Until mine Sidhu has not been charged . His attorney, Meyer, said it would be premature to comment on the accusations.
When Valencia called for Sidhu’s resignation at the City Council meeting, applauded many residents who were in the audience.
“I can’t remember a day as dark as yesterday in the history of Anaheim,” Valencia declared on the news that Sidhu was under investigation in connection with the city’s pending sale of Angel Stadium to society commercial for Angels owner Arte Moreno.
The US Attorney’s Office also announced charges against the former CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Anaheim, Todd Ament, for lying about his assets when buying a second home.
The affidavit in support of the charges against Ament also alleges that acted as a “gang leader”, along with a unidentified political consultant, of “a specific and covert group of individuals who exercised significant influence over the inner workings of the Anaheim government”.
Councilman José Moreno, who fought against the rush in the stadium agreement and voted against it, asked the city prosecutor to initiate an independent investigation, by a company external, to determine the extent to which personnel could have been involved in the alleged actions .
Moreno also called on city managers to immediately sever all financial ties with the Chamber of Commerce and its related Anaheim First initiative. No council action was taken on any of Moreno’s requests.
Judge halts sale of Angel Stadium
The sale of Angel Stadium from the City of Anaheim to the team owner’s company , Arte Moreno, was detained this Tuesday for at least two months by a judge of the Orange County Superior Court, who agreed to a state request to halt the deal amid a federal corruption investigation of Mayor Harry Sidhu.
Judge Glenn Salter granted the request of the state Attorney General’s Office, which had previously negotiated a settlement with the city of Anaheim on the use of proceeds from the sale to provide affordable housing throughout the city.
A few weeks ago, the Attorney General’s Office announced an agreement with Anaheim that resolved a dispute over affordable housing in the stadium agreement, which includes the stadium itself and surrounding parking areas.
As part of the settlement, Anaheim agreed to set aside about $123 million dollars for affordable housing throughout the city, with $96 million dollars dedicated to the creation of housing within the next 5 years, and the rest for 466 Apartments on the stadium site for low income residents.
In the affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Brian Adkins, Sidhu is accused of using an Arizona address that was not yours to avoid paying $,1200.50 dollars in California sales tax on a helicopter ptero that he had bought . The FBI agent said Sidhu also apparently avoided paying $1 sales tax,18 dollars in Arizona.
The FBI also alleged in the affidavit, which was seeking email and cell phone records, that Sidhu was illegally providing insider information to Angels officials during negotiations over the sale of the city’s stadium property to Moreno’s development company.
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