Blagojevich, (above) Shah

Washington, Aug. 5: A third Indian-American has paid the price for what is increasingly being seen as the community’s cosy relationship with former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who had to quit in disgrace for allegedly trying to sell the US Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.

Niranjan Shah, who was appointed to the University of Illinois by Blagojevich in 2003 and later became chairman of its board of trustees, resigned following allegations that seats were sold to students for money and as influence-peddling.

Shah, a wealthy businessman from the engineering industry, is also alleged to have short-circuited the emigration of his prospective son-in-law from the Netherlands and improperly appointed Maarten de Jeu to a $115,000-a-year job at the university following de Jeu’s marriage to Shah’s daughter.

Rajinder Bedi, who held a lucrative job of managing director of the Office of Trade and Investment in the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, resigned in April.

Bedi, who was in charge of nine overseas trade offices of the state and was paid $111,708 a year by Blagojevich for almost six years, used to be referred to by the discredited governor in his happy days as “my warrior”.

Raghuveer Nayak, a multi-millionaire owner of several surgery centres in Chicago, has emerged a key figure in the investigation of the former governor’s corruption.

Nayak, who raised big money for Blagojevich’s elections, is reported in the Illinois media to have sought immunity from federal authorities in return for his co-operation in their ongoing investigations of the former governor.

Blagojevich, a Serbian American, was considered a rising star in US politics and a potential Democratic President until he was dramatically arrested following Obama’s election. The FBI taped conversations indicating that he tried to sell Obama’s Senate seat.

In Illinois, the governor has the authority to fill the vacancy if a Senator resigns his seat mid-term.

Blagojevich was formally indicted by a federal grand jury in April this year.

Shah’s resignation, which has thrown three respected campuses under the University of Illinois into turmoil, is the culmination of a Chicago Tribune investigative series in June, which alleged that underqualified students routinely got admission through the influence of state lawmakers and university trustees since 2004.

The newspaper later published a trail of emails which indicated impropriety by Shah and university officials in the hiring of his son-in-law and payment by the university in speeding up de Jeu’s visa to move to the US.

Shah wrote in one of the emails to university chancellor Richard Herman: “I would like to thank you for your help with Marteen (sic). We need to make this happen.”

Herman replied: “I am happy to help.”

In a letter on Monday to Blagojevich’s successor, governor Patrick Quinn, Shah wrote: “I am not in public service for self-aggrandisement and therefore have no interest in a protracted process regarding my role.”

Admitting to no wrongdoing, Shah added: “When I became a trustee at U. of I. in 2003, many of the stakeholders in the University of Illinois system — trustees, university administrators and staff, legislators and others — operated under a set of rules and norms that seemed appropriate at the time.”

Quinn has appointed a commission to look into allegations by the Chicago Tribune.