Probes sought for payments to Coleman

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., fighting to keep his Senate seat, now faces calls for investigations into allegations that a friend diverted funds to his campaign.

The Alliance for a Better Minnesota asked both the FBI and the Senate ethics committee to investigate whether Nasser Kazeminy, chairman NJK Holding Corp. in Minneapolis, improperly funneled $75,000 to Coleman through a company where the senator's wife works and sought to send him at least $25,000 more, The Washington Times reported Friday.

The requests were made in the aftermath of separate lawsuits filed in Texas and Delaware in which the allegations were made.

"These are serious allegations. With all of the news media covering these lawsuits, which state that money was funneled to Norm Coleman, we need to know what actually happened," the pro-labor organization's Executive Director Denise Cardinal. "There should be a thorough, formal investigation."

Kazeminy denied the allegations.

Coleman, in a statement, said he welcomed the investigations and denied any wrongdoing .

"The fact that a United States senator is being used as a tool of extortion by private parties should be of concern to all Minnesotans," the statement said. "This investigation should move forward, and it is my hope that those who were behind this matter, their motives and what their connections may be to my political opponents be reviewed aggressively by the appropriate authorities and the media."

Coleman faces a mandated recount of the nearly 3 million votes cast in his re-election bid against Democrat Al Franken, an author and former "Saturday Night Live" performer, because the Republican's 209-vote lead is less than one-half of 1 percent.