By DPA,
Washington : In a remarkable reverse, US President George W. Bush has revoked a pardon he granted a day earlier to a real estate developer whose relatives donated over $40,000 to the Republican Party, a news report said.
Bush Wednesday rescinded the pardon he had granted the day before to developer Isaac Robert Toussie from Brooklyn, New York, who had been convicted of mail fraud and of making false statements to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Washington Post reported.
The newspaper quoted White House press secretary Dana Perino as saying neither Bush nor counsel Fred Fielding were aware of contributions made to the Republican Party by Toussie’s father, developer Robert Toussie.
“Looking at the totality of the case, more could have been described to the president,” Perino said.
“The political contributions certainly were not known. It raises the appearance of impropriety, so the president prudently decided not to go through with the pardon.”
Toussie pleaded guilty to mail fraud and lying to HUD, and was sentenced to five months in prison and five months’ house arrest in July 2003.
The New York Daily News said hundreds of Toussie’s former customers had filed a federal lawsuit against him, accusing him of luring poor, minority home buyers into agreeing to overpriced mortgages with hidden costs.