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Prosecution Witnesses Line Up In Nagin Corruption Trial

Franklin Reyes
/
AP
Former New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

It was another day of damning testimony against former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Several witnesses described bribes they say they paid in exchange for city business.

Federal prosecutors are calling businessmen to testify about cash, free vacations and supplies they say they gave Nagin. The former mayor faces a 21-count corruption indictment.

Nagin’s attorney says the witnesses aren’t credible, and Nagin had no power to award contracts by himself.

Witnesses have said they paid Nagin in exchange for lucrative contracts to rebuild the city after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Others also say they funneled money and supplies to his family’s granite countertop business.

Nagin’s defense attorney says he will call witnesses to describe the process of awarding contracts that blocks one person from having that much power.

Eileen is a news reporter and producer for WWNO. She researches, reports and produces the local daily news items. Eileen relocated to New Orleans in 2008 after working as a writer and producer with the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. for seven years.

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