A U.S. congressman has met with senior Bolivian officials to plead for the release of a New York man who he says has been wrongly jailed without charge for a year in a mockery of justice.

Rep. Chris Smith says Bolivia�s interior and justice ministers promised him they would personally look into the case of Jacob Ostreicher.

The New Jersey Republican called Ostreicher�s jailing �an egregious violation of human rights.� He met with the American earlier this week and attended a court hearing.

Ostreicher made an investment in rice farming and says he was swindled by an associate who turned out to have been involved with a drug trafficker.

Prosecutors jailed Ostreicher in June 2011 on suspicion of money laundering but have so far presented no evidence to back the accusation.

(Source: ABC News)