Another Clinton Foundation donor with ethics problems received a loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. This time, the dollar amounts are gargantuan, and the recipient is at the center of a corruption scandal in Pakistan.
According to a report in the Washington Free Beacon by Alana Goodman, a Middle Eastern investment firm called The Abraaj Group has contributed $500,000 to $1 million to the Clinton Foundation. Abraaj owns and manages a utility company named K-Electric in Pakistan. That country’s former oil minister, Asim Hussain, has been arrested for providing illegal favors for K-Electric and harboring Islamic terrorists in hospitals he owns. From the article:
The investigation has not impacted the U.S. government’s ongoing partnership with the Abraaj Group, which dates back to at least 2012. That year, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation—a federal agency that dispenses corporate loans under the guidance of the U.S. State Department—selected the Abraaj Group to manage its $150 million Middle East investment fund.
Two weeks later, the Abraaj Group co-sponsored the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting.
Last October, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation again pledged up to $250 million to help fund the Abraaj Group’s K-Electric operations. The announcement came less than a month after the Sindh Rangers, a Pakistani law enforcement agency, reportedly issued a 12-page report accusing Hussain of passing illegal favors to K-Electric.
Also from the article:
Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, said the situation raised questions for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
“By law, OPIC is required to conduct due diligence efforts on any potential recipient of financing, especially matters involving millions of dollars,” said Boehm. “Yet more and more cases have emerged in which recipients of OPIC financing with ties to the Clinton Foundation were not properly vetted. One major Clinton donor, Claudio Osorio, is now doing 12 years in prison for defrauding OPIC in a $10 million financing deal.”
Related:
FBI Investigating Clinton Foundation Pay to Play?
Hillary Emails Shed Light on Clintons’ Role in Loan to Fraudster
Clintons Pushed OPIC Loan to Fraudster Claudio Osorio