Ata took state job for 'redemption'
REZKO TRIAL | FBI agents visited him after 9/11, he says
Ali Ata didn't need his $127,000-a-year state job to pay the bills, the former Blagojevich appointee testified Friday.
In 2004, he had a net worth of $12 million and shared ownership in $40 million in property, Ata told jurors in the Tony Rezko corruption trial.
(AP file)
But he said he had another motivation: redemption.
Ata said he was urged to retire from his engineering job at Nalco Co. just after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, after FBI agents visited him at his office.
The issue arose on the second day of Ata's testimony. It led to a tense exchange with Rezko lawyer Joseph Duffy, who asked Ata if the FBI targeted him because his last name was the same as the most notorious of the Sept. 11 terrorists, Mohamed Atta.
"Similar," Ata corrected Duffy.
"And you had nothing to do with that?" Duffy asked, referring to the attacks.
Ata's face changed.
"Come on, Mr. Duffy," Ata said, visibly agitated. "Let's not go there."
Duffy got to his point -- that, after leaving Nalco, Ata was "devastated" and was trying to rebuild his life.
"I felt I needed to maybe prove myself again through a position," Ata said.
"One of the ways to get redemption was through a state position, is that fair?" Duffy asked.
"That's fair," Ata said.
Ata served as executive director of the Illinois Finance Authority in 2004 and 2005. To keep his state job, he said he felt he had to please Rezko. So he said he agreed to Rezko's demands for money, ultimately giving him a total of $125,000 in cash and following Rezko's orders.
Ata has proven to be a key witness for the prosecution, testifying that Rezko held vast power in the governor's administration and shook him down for cash.
Duffy worked to downplay Rezko's influence. In response to his questioning, Ata said the finance authority board never took action based on Rezko's influence.
Duffy also questioned whether Rezko held any sway in getting Ata his job, given that Ata had testified he had a long-standing relationship with 33rd Ward Ald. Dick Mell -- Blagojevich's father-in-law. Ata was a longtime fund-raiser and supporter of Mell and knew Blagojevich since the 1990s.
"You didn't need Mr. Rezko to introduce you to Gov. Blagojevich, did you?" Duffy asked.
"No," said Ata, who has pleaded guilty to tax fraud and lying to an FBI agent and hopes to get a lighter sentence in exchange for his testimony.
He'll resume testifying Monday -- the same day prosecutors said they hope to wrap up their case.