Six officials held over New York mayoral race 'bribery'

Two New York state lawmakers are among six officials who have been arrested over an alleged plot to rig the city's mayoral race, prosecutors have said.

State Senator Malcolm Smith and City Councilman Dan Halloran were detained at their homes.

Mr Smith was attempting to "bribe his way" on to the ballot for the vote in November 2013, prosecutors said.

Charges include bribery, extortion, as well as wire and mail fraud, according to the criminal complaint.

Mr Smith, a Democrat from the New York borough of Queens, is accused of bribing the leaders of local Republican county committees to get the certificates needed to let him run as a Republican.

Also charged are Bronx County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Savino; Queens County Republican Party Vice-Chairman Vincent Tabone; Noramie Jasmin, Mayor of Spring Valley, New York state; and her deputy, Joseph Desmaret.

Mr Smith also allegedly agreed to pay a co-operating witness and an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a wealthy real estate developer, the complaint says.

Mr Halloran is accused of negotiating payments and making other arrangements to further the scheme.

The case represented "an unappetizing smorgasbord of graft and greed involving six officials who together built a corridor of corruption", US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

George Venizelos, the FBI's New York assistant director in charge, said in a statement that public officials must hold themselves to a higher standard.

"Public service is not supposed to be a short cut to self-enrichment," he said.

But Mr Smith's lawyer, Gerald L Shargel, told the New York Times: "Malcolm Smith is a dedicated and highly respected public servant and he steadfastly denies these charges."

His client and Mr Halloran were due to appear in court later on Tuesday.

New York City's current Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is unable to seek re-election this November because of term limits.