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SACRAMENTO — U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III announced today that he will resign at the end of July or in early August.

He told a news conference that an independent prosecutor investigating his personal financial affairs had found no grounds for legal action against him and therefore he could leave the Reagan Administration with a clear name.

“I have stated that I would not resign under a cloud or until I was completely vindicated,” Meese said, adding that the filing of a report by independent counsel James McKay–rather than an indictment–”fully vindicates me.”

Meese’s tenure at the Justice Department has been marked by repeated controversy surrounding his conduct and marred by resignations by senior personnel.

Won’t Be ‘Hounded’

Explaining why he had now decided to resign, Meese, who has always maintained his innocence, declared, “to allow myself to be hounded out of office by false accusations or allegations, unjust political attacks and media clamor would undermine the integrity of our system of justice which I have championed. . . . “

He said: “I have informed the President that I will be leaving the Administration towards the end of July or early in August.”

Earlier today, McKay ended his investigation of Meese without bringing criminal charges, but filed a report that raised questions about Meese’s ethics.

Sources close to the nearly 14-month-old probe said the secret report, totaling more than 800 pages, referred certain matters on Meese’s ethical behavior to the Justice Department for further review.

The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the agency’s internal ethics unit, is expected to review whether Meese violated federal ethics rules that prohibit actions that create the appearance of impropriety.

Allegations Detailed

McKay, who previously said he had insufficient evidence to indict Meese on most key matters under scrutiny, detailed in the report his probe into various conflict-of-interest charges against the attorney general.

It was filed under seal with a special panel of three federal appeals court judges. After Meese’s defense attorneys comment on the report, the judges will decide when to release it.

Meese, the nation’s top law enforcement officer who had President Reagan’s continued support throughout the inquiry, has denied any wrongdoing.

Most of McKay’s investigation centered on action Meese took as a government official that benefited his longtime friend and former lawyer, E. Robert Wallach, and on assistance that Wallach extended to Meese.

Wallach has been indicted on charges of attempting to illegally influence Meese and other government officials in helping win lucrative government contracts for the scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp., a defense contractor.

The most serious charge against Meese involved his role in a failed Iraqi oil pipeline deal that allegedly called for payoffs of as much as $700 million over 10 years to Israel and the Israeli Labor Party.

Meese received a secret 1985 memo from Wallach, who represented one of the project’s promoters, outlining the alleged payoff plan in return for an Israeli commitment not to attack the pipeline.

Meese then helped set up a meeting between a top White House national security adviser and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to discuss the project.

Telephone Contacts Probed

McKay also investigated Meese’s meetings with regional Bell Telephone company executives while holding $14,000 in phone stock.

A SHOPPER has sparked a debate among bargain hunters after sharing an incredible yellow sticker haul on social media – and admitting she cleared the shelves of highly reduced items.

The savvy shopper managed to scoop up 51 cartons of fruit juice for less than £4, along with a massive discount on cleaning essentials.

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The post quickly racked up comments after the woman declared: “Yes I cleared the shelves who wouldn’t,” justifying her massive purchase.

The focus of her shopping spree was Morrisons, though she noted the deal might not be nationwide. 

The woman, who shared her impressive savings in the popular Facebook group Extreme Couponing And Bargains UK, basket was full of discounted everyday essentials.

She bought 17 multipacks of juice cartons (4x apple and blackcurrant, 13x orange juice) that were priced at a mere 20p per pack. 

This means she paid just £3.40 for 51 individual juice cartons, a saving of over 90% on the original price.

The money saver also grabbed a huge stock of Dettol cleaning wipes. 

These were marked up at 75p but scanned at an even lower 37p per pack of 70 wipes.

She bought 13 packs, grabbing a year’s worth of cleaning supplies for just £4.81.

But her post soon quickly got a reaction from other money savers. 

Many users congratulated her on the incredible luck, insisting that any serious bargain hunter would do the same but others disagreed. 

“I wouldn’t have cleared the shelf actually,” one wrote.

A second also stated: “It’s lovely to hear of people getting a bargain but when you say…

“I cleared the shelf, surely you didn’t mean that figuratively.

“I mean you did leave some for someone else to ‘get a bargain’?”

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“I’m sorry but I get annoyed when people clear the shelf.

“I just think it’s a great bargain but please be fair to others to have the opportunity to get as well,” a third added.

But someone else said: “Why not, great find. That pack lunches are sorted.”

And another added: “Well done you…I would have as well…always share with relations and friends.” 

A Facebook user also commented: “Well done you, who wouldn’t take the lot I would , to split between my family.” 

A BRITISH grandad and veteran suffering from cancer has been left homeless and starving in Dubai after being arrested for a crime he’d been acquitted of a decade earlier.

John Murphy, who served in the British military before building a life in the UAE, was arrested a decade earlier over allegations of being offensive to hotel security.

The 59-year-old’s lawyers said he should have walked free but he was jailed awaiting trial.

In the interim period, John’s landlord sued him for rent arrears that piled up during his detention.

His belongings were seized, a travel ban imposed, and his passport withheld.

The travel ban imposed on him has also never been lifted.

For nearly 10 years he has been trapped in Dubai, unable to work and unable to leave, putting John in an ‘inescapable legal limbo’.

John’s lawyers now say he has been ‘literally starving’.

The grandfather has been forced to sleep on public transport and wash in shopping centre toilets, according to his legal contacts.

“I haven’t eaten in four days,” Murphy said in a message sent from Dubai.

“I’ve been on the streets for three weeks.

“I try to ride the metro all day to rest, but security chase me away.

“I wash in mall toilets, I’ve been in the same clothes for weeks, and my health is failing.

“I need urgent cancer treatment and dental care, but I have nowhere to turn.”

Despite homelessness being illegal in the UAE, when John attempted to surrender to the police, they refused to arrest him.

He has been surviving on public transport, caught between a rock and a hard place – unable to leave, unable to work, unable to resolve his debts.

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Radha Stirling, CEO of Detained in Dubai said John’s situation was “outrageous”.

“John was found innocent, yet ten years later he is starving on the streets, denied cancer treatment, food, or shelter,” she said.

“This is the direct result of a system that criminalises debt and traps people in a cycle of poverty and despair.

“They won’t let him leave, and they won’t even arrest him. He is being left to die in plain sight.”

A friend of John’s has launched a GoFundMe page and appealed directly to both the British and Irish embassies for help.

To date, neither has secured his release.

“The Trump administration successfully repatriated a number of American citizens from the UAE,” Stirling added.

“It is disappointing that Britain and Ireland have not stepped in to save John Murphy.

“He is a veteran, a grandfather, and he has already suffered enough.

“The Irish and British governments must act now.”

John’s quagmire comes after British student Mia O’Brien was detained in the city after being busted with 50g of cocaine.

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Mia was sentenced to spend 25 years in a UAE prison after she was found with the drugs that had a street value of £2500.

Her family this week issued a plea for help saying she had “never done a bad thing in her life” and had made a “very stupid mistake”.

But now her heartbroken mum Danielle McKenna, 46, has revealed new details about her lengthy jail term.

She revealed that Mia, 23, was caught with 50 grams of the Class A drug in the Middle East last October.

The huge amount of cocaine was found inside Mia’s apartment in “one big chunk”.

The Liverpool University law student was arrested alongside two other people – her friend and the friend’s boyfriend.

All three have been charged with drug dealing.

Mia was convicted by a judge after a one day hearing on July 25.

She was also fined a staggering £100,000 by the court before being sent to the hellish Dubai Central Prison, also known as Al-Awir.

The notorious lock-up has been dubbed the affluent city’s version of infamous jail Alcatraz.

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“Mia feels she has destroyed her life as she wanted to be a lawyer or solicitor, ” Danielle told the Daily Mail.

“I speak to her but she can’t say too much on the phone.

“She’s just made a stupid mistake after going over to see a friend and her boyfriend in Dubai.”

The mother-of-five said Mia pleaded not guilty to intent to supply the drugs.

But the judge swiftly ended the trial and handed her a life sentence of which she has to serve 25 years.

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