Rezko accuses ex-partner

COURT | Mahru denies claim he turned informant to avoid arrest

Indicted developer Tony Rezko is claiming his former business partner, Dan Mahru, became a federal informant and turned on him to avoid being arrested for his own legal problems.

In court documents filed in federal court late Friday, Rezko's attorney says Mahru began cooperating with federal authorities in December 2005 -- 10 months before Rezko was indicted -- after being confronted by government agents.

He was being linked, according to the claims in Rezko's motion, to the "embezzlement of over $1 million from the estate of his mother, Gertrude Mahru, during the time he was executor of her estate.

"Mahru was given the option of being arrested or using his 'get-out-of-jail-free' card to avoid arrest by providing information against Rezko," the court filing says. "Not surprisingly, Mahru chose the latter and immediately became a confidential informant for the government.

"Mahru's tales about Rezko's alleged illegal conduct are fanciful. Nevertheless, the government intends to call Mahru at trial."

Mahru, in an interview Saturday, said the claim about his mother's estate is "absolutely untrue." He added that he didn't need to respond to Rezko's "frivolous motion."

Rezko, a fast-food magnate and former fund-raiser for Gov. Blagojevich and Sen. Barack Obama, and Mahru co-owned a firm named Rezmar Corp.

In his court motion filed Friday, Rezko asked a judge to force Mahru to produce documents that Rezko claims will show Mahru lied about a second company's connection to a minority-owned firm.

The documents sought in connection with Mahru's Automatic Ice company "go directly to the issue of Mahru's credibility as a government witness," according to the motion.

Automatic Ice supplies restaurants, bars and hotels with icemakers. The motion claims that through Automatic Ice, Mahru falsely represented his association with a company called Crucial Concessions to obtain contracts that required a "Minority Business Enterprise" status.

The motion claims Mahru falsely represented that he was affiliated with Crucial and falsely listed Crucial's offices at Automatic Ice's location, and that he or someone associated with him falsified documents regarding Crucial.

The motion claims Mahru has ignored a subpoena for the documents from Rezko's lawyers.

Mahru said he did not have any such documents and did not falsely represent an association with Crucial. "When I got that subpoena, I didn't know what they were talking about," he said.