US: The US Congress House majority leader, Tom DeLay, is facing new allegations which could threaten his position as a key Republican leader in the US Congress.
Mr DeLay, already beset by ethics questions, made a trip to Moscow in 1997 which was funded by a group lobbying for Russian business interests - a clear breach of Congressional rules - according to The Washington Post.
A separate investigation by the New York Times disclosed that Mr DeLay's wife and daughter in Texas were paid more than $500,000 by Mr DeLay's campaign committees since 2001 for "fundraising" and "campaign management".
The $64,000 six-day trip to Moscow by Mr DeLay and five staff members was reportedly paid for by a mysterious corporation in the Bahamas which was lobbying for Russian energy companies. At the time, many House Republicans were critical of the flow of billions of dollars to Russia through international lending institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.
Mr DeLay subsequently voted in Congress to continue funding to promote privatisation in the former Soviet Union and for a bill to bail out the Russian economy in 1998.
One of the lobbyists for the Bahamas entity, Chelsea Commercial Enterprises, was a friend of the House majority leader called Jack Abramoff, who is currently under investigation for corruption related to his representation of gambling interests by Indian tribes.
Chelsea co-ordinated the trip with a Russian oil and gas company, Naftasib, and financed it through a non-profit Washington group, the National Center for Public Policy Research, the Post claimed.
In Russia, Mr Delay played golf, and met then prime minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, who was also promoting Russia's energy interests, but did not inform the US embassy in Moscow - as visiting Congress members traditionally do on such occasions.
Aides to Mr DeLay said he believed his Russia trip was financed by the non-profit group, but the newspaper revelations come on the heels of ethics questions which have arisen about two other foreign trips he made.
These were a $70,000 sojourn in London and Scotland in 2000, which was reportedly part-financed by an Indian tribe, and a gambling services company, and a $107,000 visit to South Korea in 2001 financed indirectly by a Korean businessman.
House Republicans yesterday rallied around their beleaguered leader, dismissing the criticisms as partisan politics.
"I don't see any wavering of support," said Congressman Roy Blunt, the third ranking Republican.
However, some days ago Mr DeLay was the target of sharp criticism over ethics on the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page, a sign that he may now be regarded as a liability to the Republican cause.
Mr DeLay - nicknamed "The Hammer" because of his tough style - was admonished three times last year by the House Ethics Committee, following which he changed the make-up of the committee to make it less effective.
Three of his associates in his home state of Texas are under indictment on charges of illegal fundraising and prosecutors have not ruled out charging Mr DeLay.
The majority leader has denied wrongdoing and claimed that there is a conspiracy to bring him down as a leader of the conservative movement.
His political action committee in Texas said that the payments to his wife and daughter reflected valuable service in funding and managing his campaigns.
While several Congress members of both parties employ relatives, the sum of $500,000 is described as unusually generous by watchdog groups.
Melanie Sloan, director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, said it was "inappropriate" for a member of Congress to use their position to enrich their families," adding that the family was becoming "DeLay Inc."