MANHATTAN (CN) — New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez called a high-level U.S. Department of Agriculture official in 2019 to bluntly demand the agency cease its scrutiny of an Egyptian-American businessman’s monopoly on halal certification of U.S. meat exported to Egypt, a witness in the politician’s bribery trial testified Monday.
“I’ve never had a call like that before,” former U.S. Agriculture Department official Ted McKinney said during cross-examination on Monday afternoon.
Federal prosecutors accused Menendez’s trial co-defendant Wael Hana, an Egyptian-American businessman from New Jersey, of paying bribes to the senator through his wife, Nadine, in exchange for helping him maintain his lucrative monopoly on certification that meat imported to Egypt had been prepared in compliance to Islamic dietary laws.
According the prosecutors in his criminal indictment, Hana was able to keep the monopoly contract despite public criticism after Menendez called McKinney and insisted that agency stop opposing IS EG Halal, Hana’s company, as sole halal certifier.
During direct questioning last week, McKinney said Menendez’s tone was “curt” as the then-ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told him on the call to “stop interfering” with his friend’s Egyptian halal meat certification appointment.
During cross-examination on Monday, McKinney testified that Menendez told him on the brief phone call that he was frustrated that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had publicly criticized the New Jersey-based halal certification firm run by one of his state’s constituents.
McKinney said he began to explain to Menendez the agency’s concerns about the Egyptian export market, but he was cut off by the senator and “disallowed” from giving his full clarification.
Menendez then reiterated his demand to “stop interfering with my constituent” twice more, McKinney said.
McKinney also said Monday Menendez’s demand to stop scrutinizing Hana’s monopoly on halal certification of meat exported to Egypt “might risk depressing the U.S. beef market and the relationship with Egypt.”
When the industry for certifying halal meat exported to Egypt to shrunk from seven halal certifiers to just Hana’s IS EG Halal, the price of halal certification jumped tenfold from one penny per pound up to ten cents per pound, McKinney said.
He called the delisting of previous seven halal meat certifiers for Egyptian exports “draconian,” due to the severity of its potential impact on international two-way trade.
McKinney, who was nominated by Donald Trump in 2017 to be the under secretary of agriculture for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, said he followed up on Menendez’s call to stop “in a sequence following traditional diplomatic protocol.”
Menendez’s defense attorney suggested Monday that McKinney had improperly advocated for global acceptance of controversial animal feed additive ractopamine while he was working for the Department of Agriculture.
He cited McKinney’s relationship with international pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company, the parent company of ractopamine developer Elanco, where he had been director of global corporate affairs and which paid him a monthly pension while he was working for the Department of Agriculture.
McKinney insisted his support of ractopamine hydrochloride — which is banned from food production in at least 160 countries around the world, including countries across Europe, Russia, mainland China and Republic of China (Taiwan), due to its suspected health effects — was for the good of the overall meat export industry.
Earlier in the trial, Bret Tate, a former “agricultural attaché” at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explained that 70% of U.S. beef livers are exported to Egypt, where the cheap cut of meat is often served fried in sandwiches with onions and sliced green peppers.
Beef liver, he noted, is less popular in the United States, where unsold surplus livers are often rendered and sold as pet food.
Prosecutors claim Hana gave Menendez’s wife, Nadine Menendez, a “no-show job” that paid out tens of thousands of dollars to a shell company, Strategic International Business Consultants LLC, which prosecutors say she formed solely to receive bribe payments.
“Every time I’m in a middle person for a deal, I am asking to get paid and this is my consulting company,” Nadine was quoted in the indictment as texting a relative about the shell company.
Prosecutors say Hana’s company later paid $23,000 to prevent Nadine’s mortgage from foreclosure.
Along with co-defendant Fred Daibes, Bob Menendez, Nadine Menendez, and Hana have all pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.
After she received a breast cancer diagnosis, Nadine was severed from the others’ trial, and is expected to stand trial later this year.
On Monday, Bob Menendez formally filed paperwork with the state to launch an independent bid for his reelection on the New Jersey ballot, positioning himself as a spoiler candidate in the Garden State’s Senate race.