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Puerto Rico governor denies fraud, other charges
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-21 09:41

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The governor of Puerto Rico denied new charges of alleged campaign finance violations on Wednesday, accusing federal authorities of political sabotage.

Anibal Acevedo Vila declared his innocence in a televised speech broadcast across the island, accusing federal prosecutors of rewriting six-month old charges to keep their case alive through his November 4 bid for re-election.

"After five months of digging and re-digging to see what else they could obtain, they had to return to the original allegations," he said, referring to the FBI's ongoing investigation into his alleged illegal efforts to raise money to pay off more than US$500,000 in campaign debts.

Acevedo was on Tuesday indicted on four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. A separate grand jury indicted him on 19 separate counts in March, including giving false testimony to the FBI and conspiracy to violate federal campaign laws and defraud the Internal Revenue Service.

Acevedo is expected to stand trial on those charges in San Juan in February.

Acevedo is waging a tight race for re-election against Luis Fortuno, Puerto Rico's nonvoting representative in the US Congress.