California senator Leland Yee accused of corruption, plot to deal firearms

One of California's most prominent ethnic Chinese political figures has been arrested for allegedly introducing an undercover FBI agent to an arms trafficker and telling him how to get automatic weapons and missiles from Muslim separatists in the Philippines.

The claims against state senator Leland Yee, who advocated gun control legislation but allegedly asked for campaign donations in exchange for the introduction, were contained in court documents unsealed on Wednesday. Yee was charged alongside a one-time triad leader, who has been linked to the Hong Kong underworld.

The FBI affidavit accuses Yee of conspiracy to deal firearms without a licence and to illegally import firearms. He was arrested on Wednesday.

Yee's arrest came as a shock to Chinese-Americans who see the senator as a pioneering leader in the community and a mainstay of San Francisco politics, said David Lee, director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee.

Yee is also accused of accepting tens of thousands of US dollars in campaign contributions and cash payments to provide introductions, help a client get a contract and influence legislation. He or members of his campaign staff accepted at least US$42,800 in cash or campaign contributions from undercover FBI agents in exchange for carrying out the agents' specific requests, the court documents allege.

Yee discussed helping the agent get weapons worth US$500,000 to US$2.5 million, including shoulder-fired automatic weapons and missiles, and took him through the entire process of acquiring them from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines to bringing them to the United States, according to the affidavit by FBI Special Agent Emmanuel Pascua.