Pakistan to return Amer Ahmad, fugitive ex-Chicago comptroller, to US

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team has an update on a former member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's inner circle.

Amer Ahmad, the former Chicago comptroller, is about to be returned to the United States from Pakistan, where he has been a fugitive in a corruption case.

One of Mayor Emanuel's most trusted allies and his government financial whiz, Ahmad fled to his native Pakistan last spring. Ahmad had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and bribery during a kickback scheme in Ohio, where he worked before coming to Chicago City Hall.

He was just transferred from a remote jail to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, for handover to American authorities and extradition.

Ahmad, who turns 40 years old this month, had been on the run since April as he tried to evade sentencing for taking more than a half million dollars in kickbacks. Last December he had pleaded guilty in Ohio to setting up a high school classmate in the crooked deal. He was released on his own recognizance until sentencing-that could send him away for 15 years.

Federal investigators said Ahmad fled Chicago for Mexico, where he walked over the border and made his way to Mexico City. He flew emirates air to Pakistan. When he landed in Pakistan, immigration agents became suspicious of his documents and he was later arrested.The former Chicago city official admits the passport was a fake in this diary he kept while a fugitive.

Entitled "Journal to Freedom - Who Said Escaping Injustice Would Be Easy," Ahmad wrote that he should have left the U.S. "many, many months ago."

He admitted that he "was worried about transporting so much cash through security," and rightly so - the nearly $200,000 did catch authorities' eyes.

During his first stop in Mexico, Ahmad wrote: "That night I cried. A lot. And begged God for forgiveness for all of my sins. That all I wanted was a simple life with my wife and kids and my loved ones around me."

Federal prosecutors had doubts that Pakistan would actually extradite Ahmad. And while the plane isn't in the air, all signs point to his return. A U.S. District judge in Columbus where the case was heard had even scheduled a date in early November to sentence the one-time rising star in absentia.