US Democratic presidential race front-runner Hillary Clinton recently blasted the hidden financial dealings exposed in the Panama Papers, but a recent revealtion depicts she and her husband have multiple connections with people who have used the besieged law firm Mossack Fonseca to establish offshore entities.
Among them are Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton’s first campaign for the US Senate; Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who has traveled the globe with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, which pledged $1bn in projects to the Clinton Global Initiative; and Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the center of a Democratic fund-raising scandal when Bill Clinton was president. Also using the Panamanian law firm was the company founded by the late billionaire investor Marc Rich, an international fugitive when Bill Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency.
However, the Clintons themselves do not appear to be in Mossack Fonseca’s database, nor does it appear that their daughter, Chelsea, or her husband, Marc Mezvinsky, who co-founded a hedge fund, are listed, McClatchy, the California-based newspaper that broke the story, reports. The ties are both recent and decades old, not surprising for the Democratic presidential front-runner and her husband, who have been in public life since the 1970s.
Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon declined to answer specific questions about her connections but referred to Clinton’s earlier comments that criticised the behaviour last week. Bill Clinton’s office and the Clinton Foundation declined to comment on the matter.
The appearance of several shady businessmen with Clinton connections comes as Clinton’s formidable opponent in the White House race Bernie Sanders has criticised Hillary Clinton for pushing for the passage of the Panama Free Trade Agreement as secretary of state.
The Vermont senator, who opposed the trade pact, has said that the agreement made it easier for corporations to utilise tax shelters set up in Panama. The 74-year-old democratic socialist has also asserted that Clinton opposed the trade agreement when she was in the Senate but flip-flopped after taking over the State Department.
The ties have also shed lights on the shady relationships the Clintons have developed over the years.
One such link stems all the way back to the Clintons’ Arkansas days. As governor, Bill Clinton met twice with Jean-Raymond Boulle, a diamond miner born in Mauritius. After the meetings Clinton granted Boulle mining rights in a state park near Hope, Clinton’s hometown.
According to McClatchy, Boulle was listed as director of two firms listed in the Panama Papers: Auk Limited, which was listed in the British Virgin Islands, and Gridco Limited, which was registered to the Bahamas.
According to Peter Schweizer, the author of last year’s “Clinton Cash,” Boulle was invited to Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration. At a party after the inauguration, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton donned a 3.5-carat diamond culled from one of Boulle’s mines, according to Schweizer.
Another mining company appears in the Panama Papers.
Giustra’s UrAsia Energy was registered in the British Virgin Island in May 2005, according to McClatchy. That September, Bill Clinton flew with Giustra on his private jet to Kazakhstan, where the Canadian hoped to secure a $500m deal for uranium mining rights in the Central Asian nation. Clinton and Giustra met with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev. Before leaving the country, Clinton publicly praised Nazarbayev, who was up for re-election.
The mining deal was awarded to UrAsia. Months later, Giustra made a $30m contribution to the Clinton Foundation. The pair later formed the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership.
A Russian businessman who was reportedly involved in setting up Clinton’s trip with Giustra is also linked to companies named in the Mossack Fonseca records.
Sergei Kurzin is tied to several oil companies listed in the papers, according to McClatchy. The mysterious financier — who reportedly pledged $1m to the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative and gave at least $50,000 directly to the Clinton Foundation — has several connections to players in the Clinton world. Besides dealings with Giustra, he also helped Marc Rich develop business relationships in Russia.
On his last day in the White House, Bill Clinton pardoned Rich, who had been indicted by the US government in the 1980s for tax evasion. The controversial move came after Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, contributed $1m to the Democratic party, $100,000 to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign, and $450,000 to Clinton’s library.
Rich’s Industrial Petrolium Limited appears in the Panama Papers. The company was registered in the Bahamas in 1992.
Ng Lap Seng also used Mossack Fonseca’s services. According to McClatchy, he’s listed as a shareholder of two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.
Ng is the Chinese billionaire who in 1996 was accused of funneling $1.1m to the Democratic National Committee through a restaurant owner in Little Rock. The restaurant owner pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations. Ng, who visited the White House nearly a dozen times in the mid-1990s, faced no charges. He was charged last year with bribing a UN official.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
