MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Closing arguments are underway in the corruption trial of former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman.

Bateman is on trial accused of improperly accepting money to act as a consultant for Community Health of South Florida which had projects in several cities, including Homestead.

In her closing, prosecutor Isis Perez told the jury that “for $125 and hour, he exerted his influence. That’s what this case is about,” according to CBS4 news partner.

She went on to say he “sold his access, not only to the Miami-Dade county mayor, but he sold his access as a mayor in his own city,” according to the Miami Herald.

The state claims Bateman used his power as mayor to help push through a pump station which Community Heath needed for its expansion. Defense attorneys said he acted appropriately and the pump station benefited a number of businesses.

Last week Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez took the stand and testified about his February 2013 meeting with Bateman where he pressed him to move forward with pump station project.

“I assumed he was there as Mayor of Homestead,” Gimenez told the jury. “This is not an unusual request by a mayor, wanting to speed up economic development in their area.”

At the time of the meeting, Gimenez did not know Bateman was on the payroll of Community Health as a $125 per hour consultant.

Bateman signed into the meeting log with Mayor Gimenez, listing his title as Homestead Mayor, making no mention of his ties to the company.

“That is something that should have been said, if he was being paid and he was acting as a lobbyist,” Gimenez told reporters in the courthouse hallway. “He should have told us that he was there acting on behalf of a company or companies.”

The defense attorney said Bateman made no mention of his relationship with Community Health in a deliberate effort to keep his “mayoral hat and consulting hats” separate.

The state has noted that Bateman used his city hall email account to communicate on Community Health business matters. The defense said that amounts, at most, to an issue for the Commission on Ethics to deal with, not a criminal case.

Bateman faces two felony counts of unlawful compensation, which could carry prison time if he is convicted.