Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich

by Peter Schweizer

  Ethiopia does not, however, have specific laws or regulations governing the public disclosure of revenues and expenditures in national budgets. There are no independent auditors of government budget data, so information is taken at face value. International economists generally focus their criticism on the number of extra-budgetary items that are omitted from the national budget. Notably, the national budget does not include over 100 state-owned enterprises or the over 70 “endowment” companies owned by the ruling political party.

  The list of offenses continued and concluded by noting, “In the past year, there have not been any events that affected Ethiopia’s budget transparency and the Government of Ethiopia has not made any steps towards improving its fiscal transparency.” When US diplomats asked the Ethiopian minister of finance about the national budget, he “maintained that he does not have access” to complete books either. Diplomats raised the “message to GOE [Government of Ethiopia] officials regarding Ethiopia’s need to comply with USG [US government] fiscal transparency guidelines; however, this message has fallen on deaf ears and only seems to aggravate relations.”47

  Despite the lack of compliance and the apparent lack of interest in moving toward transparency, Hillary granted the government of Ethiopia a waiver, which allowed it to avoid transparency requirements.48

  Someone who has directly benefited from US assistance to Ethiopia is Sheikh Amoudi. Amoudi owned Ethiopia’s Dashen Bank, which he used to finance his other companies and projects. According to Dashen’s annual reports, the bank reaps financial reward through the USAID’s Development Credit Authority, which is funded by US taxpayers and provides Ethiopian loan guarantees.49 The USAID also brokered a long-term contract in November 2009 specifically for Almeda Textiles (which is owned by Amoudi) to import textiles into the United States.50

  When Hillary was appointed secretary of state, she brought in a group of advisers to shape American policy toward Africa. But two individuals largely responsible for forming it didn’t have a direct portfolio at State. Husband Bill was considered to be Hillary’s closest Africa adviser. He had good contacts with several African presidents and traveled there regularly.51

  The other key unofficial adviser was former ambassador Joe Wilson, regarded as Hillary’s “grey eminence for Africa.”52 Wilson had served as ambassador to several countries in Africa. In 1997 he was appointed special assistant to President Clinton and senior director for African affairs in the White House. Wilson had the responsibility to “plan and execute” then president Bill Clinton’s first trip to Africa, which supposedly raised his consciousness concerning the continent.53

  Wilson is perhaps most famous for the role he played in a controversy involving his wife, Valerie Plame, a former CIA agent who had been outed by officials in the Bush administration. Wilson charged that this was an intentional act of retaliation against him for debunking the administration’s claims about Saddam Hussein’s seeking yellowcake uranium in Africa. It later turned out that the leak of Plame’s identity came from the State Department, not the White House. Nevertheless, husband and wife made something of a career out of the episode: Plame published a book about her experience, which in turn became a movie starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts. Wilson’s claims about the yellowcake uranium were later debunked by the Senate Intelligence Committee.54

  Wilson was close to the Clintons. “He was very active with the Hillary Clinton [presidential] campaign,” his wife noted. Wilson penned articles declaring that in contrast with then senator Obama, Hillary had real-world diplomatic experience. On the campaign trail in Portland, Oregon, in April 2008, he said that Hillary was “easily the better candidate.” Joe Wilson also traveled with Bill Clinton to Africa as part of a Clinton Foundation delegation.55

  Once Hillary was nominated for secretary of state, many believed she wanted to appoint Wilson to a senior State Department post for African affairs. But the reality of facing a difficult Senate confirmation deterred her. Many Republicans strongly disliked him. Still, Wilson was a strong presence at the State Department despite his lack of an official post. “Wilson’s presence in the wings is still strongly felt and the future incumbent in this post will constantly have him under their feet,” noted one African business publication.56

  In January 2007 Wilson became vice chairman of a New York–based investment firm called Jarch Capital.57 A holding company focused on natural resources like oil, uranium, and gold, it specialized in cutting deals in countries where it expected “sovereignty changes.” That’s a nice way of saying countries that are at war.58

  “Ambassador Wilson will be instrumental in the growth of Jarch as it expands in Africa, sometimes in politically sensitive areas,” noted the company in a press release. In other words, like Adolph Lundin did in Congo, Jarch would be striking deals with warlords fighting local governments, hoping to cash in when power changed hands. (As Jarch founder Philippe Heilberg, a former Wall Street banker, explained his strategy of cutting deals with warlords, “You have to go to the guns, this is Africa.”)59

  The venture was clearly off the grid as far as the Bush State Department was concerned. As Harper’s quoted a knowledgeable observer in 2007, “The State Department isn’t supportive of Jarch’s involvement because it knows that once Americans go after oil in the south any hope of a national unity government collapses.”60

  But Jarch Capital pressed on anyway. Wilson was of particular help because he had dealt with Sudanese warlords while he had served in the Clinton administration. He knew the region, and was a master negotiator. These skills proved extremely valuable to Jarch.

  Jarch was close to several warlords operating in the Sudan. In 2009, shortly after Hillary was appointed secretary of state, Jarch took out a fifty-year lease on 400,000 hectares (or one million acres—about the size of Vermont) in Unity State, South Sudan.61 In addition to the rights to farm the land, it procured oil and uranium rights as well. As the Financial Times put it, the deal had “a decidedly 19th century flavor to it.”62

  Sudan was in the middle of a civil war and the United States had placed restrictions on US companies wanting to do business in the country. So Jarch set up a subsidiary, Jarch Management, which was registered outside of the United States, “making it easier to circumvent such restrictions.”63

  Jarch acquired the land by striking a bargain with Gabriel Matip, the eldest son of General Paulino Matip Nhial, who was deputy commander in chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and former head of the South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF). The general was also put on the Jarch advisory board. SSDF bragged, “This company is set to become the largest producer of oil and gas in South Sudan.”64

  Wilson’s firm continued signing up warlords and enriching their family members in exchange for lucrative leases on rebel-held territory. In 2010 it signed up Sudanese General Gabriel Tanginya as an “adviser” and leased a huge area of his native Jonglei state in what was called “Africa’s largest land deal.”65 Tanginya, who has been accused of instigating violence against civilians in southern Sudan, was apparently a very welcome addition to the firm. Jarch declared that General Tanginya “will give the Company much needed expertise in Jonglei and expand its expertise in Greater Upper Nile.”66

  By the time there were national elections in 2011, the newly minted vice president of South Sudan was Riek Machar, who was also an adviser to Jarch. Machar had been a rebel leader and later apologized for his role in the Bor Massacre, in which thousands of people had been killed.67

  As South Sudan struggles with factional fighting following its independence in 2011, Jarch Capital–linked warlords are in the thick of the fight. General Peter Gadet, a former member of the Jarch Capital advisory board, is the target of international sanctions. According to the BBC, the international sanctions are in response to “reports of atrocities committed in the first half of 2014.”68

  The cluster of donors and advisers to the Clintons who rely on warlords and corrupt dictators is not confined to the Democratic Repub
lic of Congo, Ethiopia, or Sudan. It extends further south on the continent and includes a longtime Clinton benefactor with close ties to the corrupt regime in Nigeria.

  Nigeria is widely recognized as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It has also been one of the most lucrative countries for the Clintons. Over the course of more than fifteen years, they have collected large speaking fees, campaign-related funds, and large contributions for the Clinton Foundation from those who have made fortunes by working in the corrupt world of Nigerian politics.

  In his first eight years on the global lecture circuit, Bill had never been paid to speak in Nigeria. But once Hillary was appointed secretary of state, he booked two of his top three highest-paid speeches ever by traveling to Nigeria, pulling in a whopping $700,000 each.69

  The two speeches were allegedly underwritten by Nigerian media mogul Nduka Obaigbena, who owns Nigeria’s ThisDay newspaper. Obaigbena, a solidly built man “with a taste for bespoke Lanvin suits,” professes “to live modestly and discreetly,” all the while maintaining a home in Lagos, a large estate in Nigeria’s Delta State, and a sleek penthouse at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, DC.70

  Obaigbena casts himself as a rebel fighting Nigeria’s corrupt political establishment. But he’s known more for his lavish parties and concerts, which have brought Beyoncé and Jay-Z, as well as Bill Clinton, to Nigeria at enormous expense. Often these lavish events come at a price for ordinary Nigerians. When Clinton appeared at a ThisDay award event in 2013, he handed out checks to schoolteachers as a reward for their work. But while Clinton collected his fee, the teachers saw their checks from ThisDay bounce.71

  Obaigbena is close to the Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan, to whom he serves as an unofficial adviser. Jonathan has been accused of corruption by numerous international organizations. (As the Associated Press puts it, Obaigbena has “close ties to major business leaders and those in the ruling People’s Democratic Party.”) Hillary’s State Department said that Jonathan’s tenure is marked by “massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption” at all levels of the Nigerian government.72 And yet, as with Ethiopia, Hillary granted the country a waiver for corruption so it could continue to receive US assistance. Back in 2006, when Jonathan was the governor of Bayelsa State, he authorized the transfer of $1 million from the government’s poverty alleviation fund to Obaigbena’s organization so he could bring Beyoncé to Nigeria.73

  One longtime Clinton benefactor is businessman Gilbert Chagoury, who has also been implicated in corruption and bribery in Nigeria. Born in Lagos, Chagoury comes from a Lebanese family and has dual citizenship in Lebanon and the United Kingdom. He built a financial empire in Nigeria with the help of General Sani Abacha, a Nigerian dictator whose five-year tenure was “known for its corruption and brutality.”74

  Chagoury served as a “front for the general’s extensive business empire.” And the two had a business partner in their activities: Marc Rich, the fugitive oil and commodities broker. Chagoury apparently worked with Rich to sop up oil assets in Nigeria and sell them on the oil market for the benefit of General Abacha and his associates. The Nigerian media declared in 1999 that the “Gilbert Chagoury-Marc Rich alliance remains a formidable foe.”75

  Abacha and Chagoury met when the future dictator was a young army officer. After Abacha carried out a coup in 1993, Chagoury received prized oil concessions and government construction contracts.76 In exchange, Chagoury helped the general siphon off money and get it out of the country. Abacha’s rule was highly criticized in Washington, where hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign assistance were disappearing into European bank accounts.77 During his rule, Abacha funneled billions of dollars to foreign bank accounts. Nigeria’s lead anticorruption prosecutor at the time, Nuhu Ribadu, put Chagoury at the center of the scheme. “You couldn’t investigate corruption without looking at Chagoury,” he said. According to Ribadu, Chagoury helped steer more than $4 billion into bank accounts in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and the Isle of Jersey.78

  Recognizing that it helped to have highly placed friends in Washington, Chagoury started funneling money to the 1996 Clinton reelection campaign and the Democratic National Committee. He contributed $460,000 to a Miami-based voter registration group tied to the DNC. (Because Chagoury is not an American citizen, he is unable to legally contribute directly to a campaign.) As the Washington Post put it, the nearly half-million-dollar contribution was given to “curry favor with Clinton’s administration on Abacha’s behalf.”79

  Apparently it worked: in 1996, Chagoury and his wife attended the White House Christmas party.80 More significantly, Bill effectively changed US policy toward Nigeria with a single sentence. The United States government had been pressuring Abacha to step down and hold elections. Abacha was expected to go. But President Clinton said in 1998, “If [Abacha] stands for election, we hope he will stand as a civilian.”81 In short, Clinton signaled that Abacha could stay; he simply needed to run as a civilian. The New York Times called it a “shift” in US policy.

  When Abacha died in 1998 (allegedly in the company of two prostitutes), the Nigerian government and European authorities began investigating the missing money.82 They quickly fingered Chagoury. In 2000 he was convicted in Geneva, Switzerland, of money laundering and “aiding a criminal organization in connection with the billions of dollars stolen from Nigeria during the Abacha years,” as PBS’s Frontline put it. (As part of a plea deal the conviction was later expunged.)83 Chagoury cut a deal with the Nigerians and Swiss, returning $300 million of his own profits in exchange for legal immunity. Subsequently, the tiny island state of St. Lucia appointed him as its envoy to the United Nations Education, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), bringing him diplomatic immunity and preventing prosecution in other European countries.84 Why St. Lucia bestowed this honor on him is unclear.

  Chagoury’s apparent complicity in the looting of Nigeria by a brutal dictator might be enough to deter most people from doing business with him. But not the Clintons. If anything, their relationship has blossomed. Clinton has recently been described as Chagoury’s “close friend.”85

  Since his conviction in Europe, Chagoury has donated millions to the Clinton Foundation. In 2009, shortly after Hillary became secretary of state, he pledged a whopping $1 billion to the Clinton’s legacy project.86 During a speech Bill delivered in St. Lucia, the island’s prime minister extended thanks to Chagoury for arranging the visit.87 He was also an invited guest to Bill’s sixtieth birthday party and attended the wedding of Bill’s longtime aide Doug Band. The Chagourys were also active in Hillary’s 2008 presidential bid. Michel Chaghouri, a nephew in Los Angeles, was a bundler for the campaign and served on the campaign staff.88 Numerous other relatives gave the maximum $4,600 each to her campaign.89

  Chagoury’s legal troubles continued. In April 2010 Gilbert Chagoury and his brother Jack were indicted by the US Justice Department in a massive bribery scandal involving $6 billion and Halliburton. Bribes had allegedly been paid to secure contracts in Nigeria. Eventually Chagoury and his brother were dropped from the case, and Halliburton settled with the federal government for $35 million.90

  Bill has lavished praise on Chagoury over the years. In 2005 Chagoury was presented with the Pride of Heritage award from the Lebanese community by Bill.91 And in 2009 the Clinton Global Initiative gave Chagoury’s company an award for sustainable development.92 In 2013 Bill showed up in Nigeria for a public ceremony involving one of Chagoury’s construction projects.

  Why the Clintons continue to associate with, take money from, and have transactions with Gilbert Chagoury remains a mystery. No less an expert than Marc Rich, who had years of experience working with Chagoury and Nigeria, once described the country as “the global capital of corruption.”93

  The Clinton Foundation has made its work in Africa a centerpiece of its global work on HIV/AIDS and development. Unfortunately, many of those who are paying it and providing it with funds have profited off the
worst excesses on the continent. One has to wonder why the Clintons would permit themselves to be so closely tied to such a corrupt group of individuals.

  CHAPTER 9

  Rainforest Riches

  HILLARY, BILL, AND COLOMBIAN TIMBER AND OIL DEALS

  In early June 2010 Bill Clinton met Frank Giustra in Colombia to launch a $20 million fund for small businesses.1 The two had visited Colombia together numerous times: for paid speeches, to look in on Giustra’s growing investments there, and to launch a Clinton Foundation project in the country.

  Giustra was invested in natural resources in Colombia. And he was looking to expand his holdings in oil, natural gas, coal, and timber. The country had been plagued by violence and narcoterrorism for decades and was slowly coming out of it, thanks in part to a large infusion of American foreign aid. (Colombia was the fourth largest recipient of US foreign and military aid in the world.) It was also desperate to get a free-trade agreement passed in the United States to jump-start its economy.

  What that meant was that Hillary, as secretary of state, held much of the country’s future in her hands. And as some unseen power of timing would have it, Hillary was set to arrive in Colombia the very next day. In her memoirs, Hillary called the fact that she and her husband were both in the country “a happy coincidence in our hectic schedules.”2

  It was the waning weeks of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe’s tenure in office. The thin, bespectacled Uribe had first been elected in 2002 on a platform of fighting terrorism and violence. When he took office, he later wrote, “Vast swathes of Colombia were under total dominion of the narcoterroristas.”3 For Uribe the fight was personal: his father had been killed by Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) terrorists in the 1980s. During his eight years in office, he had achieved an impressive record of success. But term limits prevented him from running again. (He tried holding a popular referendum that would get him another term, but Colombian courts rejected it.) He would be out of office by August 2010 but still had substantial powers until the next election.