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Bill Clinton and Frank Giustra -- Together Again

March 01, 2008 1:17 PM

Former President Bill Clinton tonight heads to Toronto for the Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative Project Launch.

You remember Frank Giustra, right?

Per the New York Times , Clinton helped Giustra win a Kazakh uranium deal.

Per the Times, "Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them....

"Accompanying Mr. Giustra on his luxuriously appointed MD-87 jet that day was a former president of the United States, Bill Clinton. Upon landing on the first stop of a three-country philanthropic tour, the two men were whisked off to share a sumptuous midnight banquet with Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev, whose 19-year stranglehold on the country has all but quashed political dissent. Mr. Nazarbayev walked away from the table with a propaganda coup, after Mr. Clinton expressed enthusiastic support for the Kazakh leader’s bid to head an international organization that monitors elections and supports democracy. Mr. Clinton’s public declaration undercut both American foreign policy and sharp criticism of Kazakhstan’s poor human rights record by, among others, Mr. Clinton’s wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Within two days, corporate records show that Mr. Giustra also came up a winner when his company signed preliminary agreements giving it the right to buy into three uranium projects controlled by Kazakhstan’s state-owned uranium agency, Kazatomprom...

"Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges."

The Wall Street Journal has also reported that Bill Clinton arranged for Giustra to meet Alvaro Uribe, the president of Colombia. And, lo and behold, a company Giustra's investment firm was advising acquired Colombian oil fields.

And per Bloomberg News: “On June 21, 2005, Bill Clinton flew to Mexico City aboard a private jet that belonged to a Canadian investment banker he was meeting for the first time. The introduction paid off for both men. Clinton was borrowing the jetliner to begin a four-day speaking tour of Latin America that would pay him $800,000. Frank Giustra of Vancouver was forming a friendship that would make him part of the former president's inner circle and gain him introductions to presidents of Kazakhstan and Colombia, where he bought mineral rights. Giustra, 50, has since put his plane at Clinton's disposal at least a dozen times to raise money for charity, his wife's presidential campaign or himself, according to U.S. flight records and spokesmen for Clinton and Giustra...

"Last November, the plane traveled from Manchester, New Hampshire, where Clinton was campaigning for his wife, to Dublin and London, where he appeared at fund-raising events for her. Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna said the Hillary Clinton campaign paid for the flight."

Public ethics and good government groups have called this all a class conflict of interest. But it continues and continues. Rather brazenly.

- jpt

UPDATE: More info on tonight's event, which is so important the Big Dog is leaving the campaign trail and heading to a different country!

According to this press release the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative (CGSGI), established in June 2007, "is an innovative partnership between the Clinton Foundation, the private sector, governments, local communities and NGOs created to increase the effectiveness, impact, scale and sustainability of social and economic development efforts in countries where the natural resource industries are an important part of the economy."

It will focus on Latin America and other parts of the developing world and will "identify opportunities to assist local leaders in addressing social, economic, and environmental issues through sustainable and scalable economic development projects with an emphasis on long term job creation and income generation. The goal of CGSGI is to help alleviate poverty in the developing world and the Initiative will build on the Clinton Foundation's successful record of implementing similar development initiatives worldwide."

Doing well by doing good, no doubt.

March 1, 2008 in Clinton, Hillary | Permalink | Share | User Comments (10)

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the Clintons are crooks pure and simple.

Posted by: Sharon | May 2, 2008 9:38:47 PM

But, it is all OK because Bill was in church today.

Did he tithe part of the millions he made off of his status as President?

Posted by: JB | Mar 2, 2008 3:14:06 PM

Frank Giustra has tried to address the inaccuracies to these stories through this press release but were ignored by the correspondent.

"Giustra added that he finds it disheartening that all of the great global initiatives that attracted him to partnering with President Clinton in the first place are getting lost in the noise of the US presidential election
campaign."

Posted by: GK | Mar 2, 2008 9:37:07 AM

And the Clintons still won't release the donor list to the Clinton Library and Foundation, right?

Posted by: Tom J | Mar 2, 2008 4:11:00 AM


While people make jokes about Obama's middle name...Bill becomes indebted to Arabs that lob millions into his foundation and Hillary's ever present shadow is a Muslim.

They've sold the Whitehouse. And, they will sell the American people down the river. It's all about them and what they want.

But, then, the American people think wrestling is real.

Posted by: JB | Mar 2, 2008 12:19:02 AM

But according to Wolfson, what voters should really care about is Obama's ties to Rezko. As if the Rezko thing even comes close to this Guistra story, which is only one of many in the Clintons' long line of questionable associations.

Posted by: BT | Mar 1, 2008 11:04:28 PM

why should Hillary show tax info.she hasn't even been elected .obama bragging about how much money his party has .I thought it was about who is qualified and not about money.Hillary obviously is showing that she can run a campaign with half the amount that obama is spending,Should show us how he will run the government waisting the americans hard earn money .

Posted by: vl | Mar 1, 2008 8:42:27 PM

ABC paid for by Obama

Posted by: emmy | Mar 1, 2008 6:59:40 PM

I guess Hillary needs another $5 million to funnel thru their personal bank account.

Where are those tax records Hillary? If you are going to "loan" money WITH INTEREST to your campaing from personal funds, you have an obligaion if not a legal requirements to reveal the source.

Posted by: A Texas Independent Voter | Mar 1, 2008 2:25:32 PM

Clinton's campaign is bankrolled by foreign dictators. Bill sold American prestige to Kazakhstan’s Big Man after Selling presidential pardons for cash.

Wonder why Hillary refuses to release her tax returns?

Posted by: tchanta | Mar 1, 2008 1:32:08 PM

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