A Navajo businessman running for tribal president contends that corruption charges against him are politically motivated.
A federal indictment released April 7 in Salt Lake City chargesbusiness and former tribal official Frank Talker and two other current and former tribal officials of a kickback scam.The others were former interim Chairman Leonard Haskie and Larry Duncan, who served as the Navajo Nation's executive director for community development.
Talker formerly was president of a tribal enterprise, Utah Navajo Industries. UNI was a for-profit corporation under the auspices of the Utah Navajo Development Council, an entity that governed the distribution of oil and gas royalties derived from Utah Navajo lands.
The indictment charges Talker, Haskie and Duncan with conspiracy, aiding and abetting, solicitation of a bribe, bribery of an Indian tribal official, misapplication of tribal funds and money laundering.
Prosecutors accuse Haskie, Duncan, Talker and an unindicted individual with plotting to have the tribe award a contract to Talker's architectural engineering firm in return for a kickback.
Talker on Thursday accused incumbent Peterson Zah of eliminating his political opponents before the Navajo Election Administration certifies candidates in June.
Navajo election law prevents anyone indicted on federal charges from running for president.
Two other candidates, Haskie and George P. Lee, also have been indicted on corruption and child sexual-abuse charges, respectively.
"Zah controls all of this," Talker said.
Zah controls the tribe's prosecutor's office, which works in conjunction with federal authorities to carry out investigations, Talker said.
"The president has a lot of power to determine who should be investigated and who should not be investigated."
Zah spokeswoman Deana Jackson said Talker's accusations are not worthy of a response.
Talker said the $40,000 contract to design a tribal jail in Tuba City was money paid for work performed. The $13,000 he is accused of paying as a kickback actually was a consultant fee to a non-Indian who "has cut a deal to save himself from prosecution," he said.
Federal prosecutors have placed the prosecution of Indians as a priority and are allowing non-Indians to participate in crimes, then enter plea agreements, Talker said.
Talker said he was shocked to learn of the indictment because he had reported to the FBI in 1990 that tribal funds intended for purchasing clothes for schoolchildren were being lost through a scam to sell jeans on the black market in the former Soviet Union.