“A complimentary stay in a marble-floored penthouse suite in a swanky Istanbul hotel for an ambitious New York City politician. And a gleaming Mercedes-Benz C 300 convertible, gifted to the wife of a US senator in New Jersey.”

“These are among the many colourful alleged kickbacks detailed in a series of recent indictments by the US Department of Justice, as part of a crackdown by prosecutors on what they say are attempts by foreign officials to buy influence in the halls of American power. “