A US Congressman has announced he is returning some of the campaign money received from an Indian American supporter after reports that the source of the funds could not be authenticated.
Anthony Weiner (Democrat from New York) said his office would return $9,250 that had been collected by long time supporter Girish Soni during his mayoral campaign some years ago. Soni is a businessman owning a chain of drug stores in New York and New Jersey.
The move follows a Jan 21 report in The New York Times on some contributions Weiner had received that failed to mention the donor's profession or place of employment. The report also said it could not locate the addresses provided by several donors. It said two people whose names appeared on money orders said they did not remember sending the donation.
The donations were in amounts of $250 each from 29 people coming in money orders and two cheques equalling $2,000, all of them collected by Soni, a fundraiser for Weiner.
Anson Kaye, spokesman for Weiner said from a prepared statement, "We believe that the campaign acted in accordance with all campaign finance rules and regulations.
"However, some questions have been raised about contributions gathered by one individual and therefore we are acting on the side of caution and returning any contributions gathered by this individual."
The newspaper said records on Weiner's various campaigns showed Soni had raised the amount now being returned, during the mayoral campaign years ago. He also donated $3,000 of his own money, which was not in question.
According to news reports, the Weiner campaign said 27 out of the 29 money orders in question had donor cards from supporters and that Soni had filed the necessary paperwork. The campaign told New York Times it had returned the money order donations and another $2,000 that Soni had collected.
The Congressman's office and Soni were unavailable for comment.