Kelly says indicted aide did nothing wrong

City Councilman Jack Kelly took the witness stand yesterday to defend his embattled chief of staff, agreeing with a lawyer that Christopher Wright "didn't do anything wrong" in taking $1,000 and favors from a pair of developers and their attorney.

In an extraordinary day in which a sitting member of Council testified in a criminal proceeding about secret recordings he made at the FBI's behest, Kelly stood by Wright.

"You still believe to this day that Chris didn't do anything wrong?" Wright's attorney, Lisa Mathewson, asked Kelly.

"It's true," said the councilman, who placed Wright on unpaid leave, but did not fire him, after Wright's 2008 indictment on charges of conspiracy, bribery and mail fraud.

Wright is on trial in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on charges that he took money, a free apartment, and free legal help from businessmen Hardeep and Ravinder Chawla and their corporate attorney, Andrew Teitelman. The Chawlas, who are brothers, and Teitelman are Wright's codefendants.

Kelly yesterday addressed for the first time how he came to act as an FBI operative, phoning Wright while agents recorded the conversation, and wearing a body wire to a lunch meeting with Ravinder Chawla.

In June 2007, four FBI agents paid Kelly an early-morning visit at his home in Northeast Philadelphia with allegations that he and Wright had accepted money and favors from constituents. Kelly said he had no problem making the recordings when asked to by the agents. Facing reelection in November and professing faith in Wright, Kelly said, he "wanted to get to the bottom of it."

"I believed that by making this recording it was either going to vindicate him . . . or I wanted to be the first to know about it," Kelly testified. "You have to remember, I was in the middle of a very, very tough reelection campaign. A hint of scandal would have been absolutely devastating to my campaign."

Indeed, Kelly conveyed that to Wright in the recorded conversation, which was played in court yesterday.

"There's a federal investigation going on, big time," Kelly told Wright up front.

"It's all we need at this point is somebody saying that there's going to be an FBI investigation of our office and of me taking money from God-knows-who," Kelly said later in the conversation.

Kelly would win reelection in 2007, beating David Oh for the last Republican at-large seat by only 123 votes. The investigation was first reported by the Philadelphia Daily News in January 2008.

In their recorded conversation, Wright denied taking cash from the Chawlas or anyone, including Joseph Mammana. Mammana, a former Kelly supporter, had pleaded guilty to federal firearms and tax-evasion charges and was cooperating with authorities. His allegations about giving cash to Kelly and Wright never panned out.

Wright told Kelly in the conversation that he received a $1,000 check from Hardeep Chawla as a Christmas gift in 2005. It was the first he had heard of it, Kelly testified yesterday. Though Wright reported the gift on his city financial disclosure form, Kelly said he never looked at it.

Kelly acknowledged yesterday that he knew Wright was living in a rent-free apartment that was arranged with the help of Ravinder Chawla. Wright moved into a Rittenhouse Square apartment a week before Chawla's company was supposed to buy it. Chawla never bought the building, flipping it to a buyer at closing for a profit. Wright stayed in the apartment for more than a year, and Teitelman helped him fight eviction proceedings filed by the new owners.

State and city ethics officials are prepared to testify that Wright's acceptance of any gifts or favors from the Chawlas and Teitelman would be a conflict of interest for him whether they were disclosed or not. U.S. Judge Eduardo C. Robreno has yet to rule on a defense motion to exclude their testimony.

The U.S. Attorney's Office on Friday presented evidence that Wright, a licensed real estate agent, hoped to bring buyers for Ravinder Chawla's River City project, a mixed-use plan for an 8.5-acre parcel along the Schuylkill at JFK Boulevard. One e-mail showed that Wright hoped to share in a potential $6 million commission.

Yesterday, prosecutors introduced an e-mail from Wright asking Ravinder Chawla for "any other real estate you control and might want to sell." Kelly said Wright never told him he was working on potential land deals for the Chawlas.

Prosecutors, who offered Kelly as their witness, were trying to bolster their case against Wright by showing he hid his business dealings with the Chawlas.

But Kelly also helped the defense. The councilman said he introduced a bill to allow unmanned mechanical parking garages not because the Chawlas wanted it or because Wright advocated it, but because "I thought it was a wonderful idea - I still do."

Kelly also said he would have written a letter of reference for Hardeep Chawla in 2006 without Wright's help. Kelly asked a U.S. District Court judge for leniency after Hardeep Chawla pleaded guilty to a charge of making false statements to a federal agency in a case involving Hardeep Chawla's company, Sant Properties, and the federal agency that rented from him.

"He was a dear friend," Kelly said of Hardeep Chawla. "And he is now."

Kelly, who was on the stand for about 31/2 hours, is scheduled to return for more testimony today.