BATON ROUGE — After his arraignment was postponed multiple times, Councilman Cleve Dunn appeared before a 19th JDC judge Wednesday morning and pleaded not guilty to several fraud charges tied to a corruption investigation into Capital Area Transportation System contracts.

Dunn is being charged with two counts of bribery and money laundering, along with public contract fraud, illegal split commission of commodities and malfeasance in office.

The councilman is one of five people indicted on charges tied to a probe into alleged corruption at CATS. Former CATS Chief Administrative Officer Pearlina Thomas, Supreme Solutions Consulting's Jarion "Jay" Colar, entrepreneur Terral "TJ" Jackson Jr. and his wife Erica Jackson were also taken into custody and charged with corruption charges, WBRZ previously reported.

Documents say Dunn used his influence as a councilmember to award CATS contracts to a company and received kickbacks from the deal.

Dunn was due in court multiple times this month for an arraignment on the corruption charges.

On July 1, Dunn was scheduled for an arraignment, a court appearence he did not attend because of a clerical error that left him without an official notice that he was required to attend. More than a week later, Dunn's arraignment date was postponed again due to a power outage at the 19th JDC that postponed all court proceedings. 

Dunn is due back in court on Aug. 18.