The reason Mr. Obama need worry is that Mr. Mahru’s accusation means that federal prosecutors were watching what Mr. Rezko was doing -- the Rezko-Auchi deal with the 62-acre Chicago site from 2003, the Rezko-Auchi-Alsammarae deal with the CPA Ministry of Electricity plant at Chamchamal, Kurdistan, from 2004, the Rezko-Frawley-Mahru-Alsammarae Companion Security deal from 2005 -- while Mr. Rezko was fundraising for Mr. Obama in his successful campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2004 and then into Mr. Obama’s first term.
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An additional concern for Senator Obama with regard these tangled criminal allegations against his longtime patron and friend Mr. Rezko, is that while Mr. Rezko is visibly on trial -- detained by federal prosecutors as a flight risk since it was revealed that he tried to deceive the court about $3.7 million dollars paid to him by his Rezmar business partner, the London billionaire investor Nadhmi Auchi -- is that the alleged recipient of the Companion Security bribe, Aiham Alsammarae, is not available and may be “overseas.”
Mr. Alsammarae’s family told the AP on Tuesday, when the bribe was revealed, that Mr. Alsammarae was overseas and could not be reached for comment. My efforts to reach Mr. Alsammarae for the last week through his Chicago engineering firm, KCI Engineering Consultants, have not been successful either. Messages left on Mr. Alsammarae’s voice mail as recently as Wednesday have not been returned; the mobile phone number Mr. Alsammarae’s message gives in his excellent English is disconnected; a paper message left with the receptionist, who said he was away and would return his calls, has not been answered; the receptionist no longer answers in person and calls to her go to her voice mail.