Diggs in Trouble

Faces kickback charges

Ever since flamboyant Congressman Adam Clayton Powell lost his House seat in 1970, roly-poly Charles Coles Diggs Jr.. 55, has been the senior black member of Congress. The son of a powerful Michigan politician who became wealthy as an undertaker in Detroit, Diggs has won election to the House twelve times from the city's predominantly poor and black 13th Congressional District. Because of his seniority, he became the first chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971. He is also chairman of the House District of Columbia Committee and the House International Relations Subcommittee on Africa.

Last week a federal grand jury handed down a 35-count indictment charging Diggs with padding his federal payroll by $101,000 since 1973. He was accused of inflating the wages of three House employees--one aide's pay, for instance, jumped from $14,667.84 to $37,355 a year--and then requiring them to pay some of his personal bills with the raises. In addition, he was charged with putting three employees of the family undertaking business on the federal payroll, at annual salaries of up to $35,000.

According to investigators, Diggs has been burdened for years with heavy personal and business debts. In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has filed tax claims of $5,000 against Diggs himself, and $48,000 against the estate of his father, who died in 1967.

From Mozambique, where he was on a 15-day junket, Diggs last week professed his innocence. But months before leaving the country he used some $8,000 raised by his friends to hire a lawyer from the firm headed by famed Defense Attorney Edward Bennett Williams. If convicted, Diggs faces up to five years in jail on each count, and fines totaling $224,000.

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