Mohamed Bahi, who worked in the mayor’s office of community affairs, was accused of instructing witnesses to lie to federal authorities.

According to officials, Bahi allegedly instructed witnesses to lie to federal investigators and deleted potentially incriminating messages in an effort to obstruct the investigation.

Mayor Eric Adams praised former aide Mohamed Bahi on Tuesday following his arrest on federal charges of witness tampering and destruction of evidence concerning the federal investigation that preceded Adams’ own corruption indictment late last month.