Pakistani-American's plea ends case over cash lie

SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 1 (Reuters) A Pakistani-American whose trial ended in a hung jury in April and who faced a second federal trial on charges he lied to the FBI in 2005 pleaded guilty to a single count of lying in an unrelated 2003 incident.

Umer Hayat, whose son Hamid Hayat, 23, was convicted of terrorism-related charges, had faced up to 16 years in prison on the charges that he lied to the FBI about Hamid Hayat's attendance at a terrorism training camp in Pakistan in 2003 if convicted in a second trial.

But under a plea bargain, those charges were dropped yesterday and instead he admitted to lying to the FBI and U.S. Customs agents in 2003 about how much money he and his family were carrying when traveling to Pakistan.

Hamid Hayat was convicted in April of providing material support to terrorists and of lying to the FBI.

The elder Hayat, 48, could face up to five years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollar for the new charge, but the government's plea agreement recommends a sentence of time served and a fine of 100 dollar when he is sentenced on August 18 in federal court.

The father and son were traveling from California to Pakistan with members of their family in 2003 and were questioned by customs officials about how much American currency they were carrying. Umer said that the 10,000 dollar in cash he carried represented the total the family had, said McGregor Scott, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California.

When the family was told their bags would be searched, Hamid and his mother produced 10,000 and 8,053 dollar respectively.

''This charge stems from Umer Hayat making a series of false statements at Dulles National Airport on April 19, 2003, concerning both the existence of, and the origins, of more than ,000 in U.S.

currency which he, his wife, and their son Hamid Hayat attempted to smuggle out of the country as they traveled to Pakistan,'' Scott told a news conference.

Scott said initially the entire sum of money was confiscated by authorities but then was returned after a fine was assessed. The Hayats continued their trip to Pakistan.

''I don't know how much was returned,'' he said. ''What is certain is that our region is safer today than one year ago.'' The two men, who lived in Lodi south of Sacramento, were taken into custody in June 2005. Umer Hayat was released on 390,000 dollar bail shortly after the jury in his trial failed to reach a verdict.

Hamid Hayat remains in custody and faces a hearing on November 17 at which he could be sentenced to up to 39 years in prison.

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