The House Ethics Committee gave Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks a pass Thursday on a secret $40,000 âloanâ he accepted with no written documentation or fixed interest rate.
The committee found that Meeksâ failure to disclose the loan for two years was âinadvertent,â and it declined to rule on whether the loan was really a gift.
The committeeâs investigation was spurred by the Daily News, which first disclosed in 2010 that the Democratic congressman had borrowed $40,000 from a local businessman, Ed Ahmad, in 2007 to fix up his home.
In its report issued Thursday, the committee quoted Steven Kartagener, a lawyer for Ahmad, as saying there was âno fixed interest rateâ and no written document of the loanâs terms.
âI am pleased with the Ethics Committeeâs decision, and I am glad that this matter is now closed,â Meeks said late Thursday. But sources told The News a federal criminal investigation of the loan continues.
Though Meeks told The News and the committee he had documents spelling out the loanâs terms, he ultimately admitted heâd âmisplacedâ them.
House rules say a member can take a loan from a friend if itâs on reasonable terms with a written repayment schedule and a reasonable interest rate.
Meeks neglected to mention the $40,000 from Ahmad on financial disclosure forms until 2010.
As The News revealed, the disclosure came only a few weeks after the FBI began questioning Ahmad about what he called a loan. That investigation is ongoing.
Meeks also was supposed to consult the House and provide proof that the loan was on âreasonable termsâ before accepting this money. He did not do so.
The committee did note that âthe record is less clearâ on whether the loan was really an impermissible secret gift to the congressman.
It declined to investigate further because Ahmad couldnât prove that the undocumented loan wasnât a loan. Late last year the Justice Department asked the committee to refrain from contacting Ahmad.