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A short blurb from Juneau Empire
VECO CEO Bill Allen and Vice-President Rick Smith were charged with several counts of bribing state legislators.
In charging documents unsealed Monday and earlier, federal prosecutors said VECO joined with unidentified state senators and a "state elected official" to conspire to promote the version of an oil tax sought by VECO and the big oil producers that provide much of VECO's business.
Members of the Legislature are mentioned in the complaint but identified only by code letters. The documents also provide an intriguing reference to a state official, however.
"Allen had an in-person meeting with State Senator A and the state elected official in which Allen and State Senator A outlined a scheme in which the state elected official would receive financial benefits from VECO in exchange for the state elected official's agreement to take official acts requested by Allen, Smith and VECO," according to information filed by federal prosecutors.
Alaska has only two statewide elected officials, the governor and lieutenant governor. It is not clear, however, whether the prosecutors were alluding to one of them.
During the last legislative session Gov. Frank Murkowski was seen as a strong advocate for producers in a deal for a natural gas pipeline. A deal on oil tax rates was seen as a precursor to that, prosecutors said.
Murkowski left the state immediately after his term in December on an around-the-world cruise. His immediate whereabouts are unknown.
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