Ex-Malasian Leader Says He Paid Abramoff

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize his 2002 meeting with President Bush, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.

Mahathir told reporters he was aware a payment was made to Abramoff, but he didn't know who made it. He said he had been persuaded by the U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation to meet with Bush at the time.

"It is true that somebody paid but it was not the (Malaysian) government," Mahathir said. "I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government."

Mahathir said the Heritage Foundation believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies."

Mahathir visited the White House at a time when this Southeast Asian country had emerged as a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, following Mahathir's crackdown on suspected Islamic militants although he had been consistently critical of Bush's foreign policies.

Abramoff, once among Washington's top lobbyists, pleaded guilty last month to charges that he and a former partner concocted a fake wire transfer to make it appear they were putting a sizable stake of their own money into a 2000 purchase of casinos.

Abramoff also has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from an investigation into his ties to members of Congress and to the Bush administration.

AP has updated the story and they've corrected the headline:

Ex-Malaysia PM: Abramoff Was Paid $1.2M By PAULINE JASUDASON, Associated Press Writer
30 minutes ago

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said disgraced U.S. lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize a meeting between him and President Bush in 2002, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mahathir told reporters late Monday he was aware the payment was made to Abramoff, but he didn't know who made it.

"I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government," Mahathir said.

Mahathir said that at the time he had been persuaded by the Heritage Foundation in Washington to meet with Bush because the conservative think tank believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies."

In a report last week, The Los Angeles Times said that Abramoff received $1.2 million from the Malaysian government for his lobbying services in 2001 and 2002.

According to the Times, which cited an unnamed former Abramoff associate who attended meetings with the Malaysian ambassador and the lobbyist, Abramoff allegedly contacted presidential adviser Karl Rove at least four times to help arrange a meeting between Mahathir and Bush, which took place in May 2002 in the Oval Office.

Mahathir visited the White House at a time when Malaysia had emerged as a key U.S. ally in the war on terror, following Mahathir's crackdown on suspected Islamic militants. However, Mahathir had been consistently critical of Bush's foreign policies, and chastised by the West for his anti-Semitic comments and human rights record.

Abramoff, once among Washington's top lobbyists, pleaded guilty last month to charges that he and a former partner concocted a fake wire transfer to make it appear they were putting a sizable stake of their own money into a 2000 purchase of casinos.

Abramoff also has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from an investigation into his ties to members of Congress and to the Bush administration.

According to documents released by U.S. Senate investigators, the Malaysian government had paid $300,000 to a company connected to Abramoff as part of a broad lobbying strategy that included arranging two confessional trips to Malaysia in January 2002 and a trip by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and his wife in October 2001.

It is unclear if the $300,000 is included in the alleged $1.2 million payment to Abramoff.

"Why would a head of state need to bribe a lobbyist to get an audience with the president? Seems to me a state visit would accomplish the same thing."

It's happened before...

There is significance to the Abramoff and Janus-Merritt references there: a firm called Janus Partners/Partner is listed in Federal Election Commission forms (for contributors to Congressman Christopher Cannon) as associated with Mark J. Robertson, president of Williams Mullen Strategies, a lobbying firm that has worked for both COTECNA (of Oil-for-Food fame) and Gabon. Robertson previously had arranged a US visit for Gabonese President Omar Bongo at the same time Bongo hired as lobbyists Pierre Salinger and Jacqueline Wilson (then in the process of divorcing Joseph--recently back from organizing Clinton's trip to Africa--but curiously listed in records as having a phone number at the $735,000 house Joseph and Valerie Plame purchased at that time, while Joseph was living separately in Valerie's apartment; over the next four years, Jacqueline would receive at least $712,000 from Gabon for her lobbying services). Robertson has more recently worked with USAID and Iraq's Minister of Infrastructure and Water to establish their respective roles in the Iraq Reconstruction efforts.
(As an aside of possible interest, Abramoff, Robertson, and Janus-Merritt Strategies have all contributed to Congressman Cannon, on whose staff David Safavian has worked. Another contributor to Cannon was Coastal Corp., the company of Oil-for-Food figure Oscar Wyatt.)
163 posted on 10/17/2005 11:47:56 AM PDT by Fedora | To 162

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.