Tom DeLay, the leader of the Republican party in the US House of Representatives, will be formally "booked" today at the sheriff's office in his home county of Fort Bend, Texas.

Mr DeLay, who is charged with money laundering and violating Texan state election laws, will have his mugshot and fingerprints taken as he is booked by police in a session that is expected to last around an hour.

A state court issued an arrest warrant for Mr DeLay yesterday and set an initial bail of $10,000, a routine step. Along with two other associates, Mr DeLay was first indicted by a grand jury on September 28 on state conspiracy charges. A second grand jury indicted him on charges of money laundering on October 3. He denies the charges.

Mr DeLay's lawyers had hoped that the Majority Leader would not have to come to the sheriff's office for today's booking. The politician has accused Ronnie Earle, the Travis County District Attorney prosecuting the case, of being politically motivated. Mr Earle is a Democrat.

Mr DeLay, a 58-year-old former pest exterminator, is accused of colluding in a scheme to evade Texas state election law by funnelling corporate donations to candidates for the Texas state legislature. Texas state law prohibits such donations.

The indictments charge that Mr DeLay founded a local political committee to collect corporate donations, which then sent the money to the Republican National Committee in Washington, which then sent the money back to Texas to fund Repubican candidates in 2002.

Mr DeLay, who has had to temporarily give up his post as Majority Leader under Republican Party rules, is accused of laundering $190,000 worth of donations via the transactions. He will make his first court appearance in Austin, Texas, on Friday.

Mr DeLay’s Republican fundraising in 2002 had major political consequences, allowing the Republicans to take control of the Texas Legislature. The Legislature then redrew congressional boundaries according to a DeLay-inspired plan, took command of the state’s US House delegation and helped the Republican retain their House majority.

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