The x42 junta sure took care of them. A while ago we were wondering what OPIC's exposure is with the Enron Bankruptcy. Since OPIC can cook its books beyond anything achieveable by Enron and Anderson, an army of backroom gnomes are working diligently in cubicles somewhere in Virginia to make sure that we never know about the Federal Treasury's exposure.
However, we can explore what has been written:
U-S / UZBEKISTAN (L) BY MAXIM KNIAZKOV (WASHINGTON)
DATE=6/24/96
INTRO: THE PRESIDENT OF UZBEKISTAN, ISLAM KARIMOV, IS IN THE UNITED STATES TO COURT U-S INVESTMENTS FOR HIS COUNTRY'S STRUGGLING ECONOMY. AS V-O-A'S MAXIM KNIAZKOV REPORTS, MR. KARIMOV HAS ALREADY SECURED SIX AGREEMENTS THAT MAY LEAD TO A TRIPLING OF U-S INVESTMENTS IN UZBEKISTAN.
TEXT: STANDING OUT OF THESE ACCORDS ARE TWO MAJOR DEALS BETWEEN UZBEKISTAN AND THE U-S ENRON AND TEXACO CORPORATIONS. THE FIRST CALLS FOR 400 MILLION DOLLARS IN U-S GUARANTEES AND FINANCING FOR DEVELOPING GAS RESERVES IN UZBEKISTAN. THE SECOND WILL HELP TEXACO MANUFACTURE AND MARKET OIL PRODUCTS THROUGHOUT CENTRAL ASIA.
RUTH HARKIN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION, AN INDEPENDENT U-S AGENCY THAT SIGNED ON AS THE RISK INSURANCE PROVIDER, HAILED THE ACCORDS.
IT IS CERTAINLY THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S PRIORITY TO SUPPORT CONTINUED ECONOMIC REFORMS IN THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN, AND FOR OPIC'S PART THIS MORNING, I'M DELIGHTED THAT OPIC WILL BE ABLE TO SIGN PROTOCOLS AND AGREEMENTS WITH THE ENRON CORPORATION AS WELL AS WITH THE TEXACO CORPORATION.
THE DEALS ARE VIEWED AS A MAJOR BOOST FOR U-S BUSINESS IN UZBEKISTAN -- A LANDLOCKED CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRY OF MORE THAN 22 MILLION PEOPLE. U-S COMPANIES HAVE MORE THAN 200 MILLION DOLLARS IN OPIC-BACKED INVESTMENTS THERE SO FAR. BUT THAT IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE DRAMATICALLY, IF THE DEALS ARE IMPLEMENTED.
UZBEKISTAN BOASTS MORE THAN 100 JOINT VENTURES WITH AMERICAN COMPANIES, PRIMARILY IN THE MINING SECTOR. SPEAKING THROUGH AN INTERPRETER, PRESIDENT KARIMOV MADE IT CLEAR HE IS ANXIOUS TO SEE THE U-S BUSINESS PRESENCE GROW.
UZBEKISTAN IS INTERESTED IN SEEING OUR RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES STRENGTHEN AND GROW. AND WE ARE ALSO INTERESTED IN SEEING AMERICAN BUSINESS AND AMERICAN CAPITAL TAKE ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE UZBEK MARKET. UZBEKISTAN HAS NOW REACHED A POINT WHERE ALL THE NECESSARY PREREQUISITES ARE IN PLACE TO CREATE A DYNAMIC INCREASE IN INVESTMENTS IN OUR ECONOMY. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO STATE THAT DOING BUSINESS IN UZBEKISTAN IS NOW VERY PROFITABLE.
MR. KARIMOV ARRIVED IN WASHINGTON ON SUNDAY, THE FIRST LEG OF HIS SIX-DAY VISIT. HE WILL DISCUSS REGIONAL AND BILATERAL ISSUES WITH U-S OFFICIALS AND ALSO TRAVEL TO HOUSTON, TEXAS, AND DENVER, COLORADO, FOR SEMINARS WITH U-S BUSINESS LEADERS.
THE HIGH POINT OF HIS TRIP IS EXPECTED ON TUESDAY, WHEN MR. KARIMOV -- FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE BECOMING THE LEADER OF AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY IN 1991 -- WILL VISIT THE WHITE HOUSE FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON.
In 1996, for example, OPIC sold $200 million in political risk insurance to Houston-based Enron Oil & Gas Company for an offshore oil and gas development project in India. Looking at supply orders and exports to date, we now know that the impact of this overseas project is being felt all across the U.S.
.....In a joint venture with U.S. companies General Electric and Bechtel, Enron created an Indian subsidiary, Dabhol Power Co. DPC, which was 65 percent owned by Enron, was to build the power plant. Enron was to develop and operate the plant. Bechtel was to design and construct it, with GE supplying the equipment.....
In April 1993, a World Bank analysis questioned the project's economic viability.....
In July 1994, the U.S. government extended a helping hand. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an independent agency established by the U.S. government to promote American business interests overseas, provided loan insurance and granted a $100 million loan guarantee to support the Dabhol project......
OPIC BOARD APPROVES $296 MILLION FOR PROJECTS IN LATIN AMERICA
Next, the board approved a $190 million loan guaranty to Sociedade Fluminense de Energia, for a project sponsored by Enron Corporation of Houston for the construction and operation of a 379-megawatt gas-fired power plant near Rio de Janeiro.
Clinton-Gore sales team eased Enron's path to success
....That's a stretch; but look at their 1994 sales team - Clinton, Gore and the late Ron Brown - a trio unlimited and uncontrolled in their cunning and greed.
In what seems to be eons ago, before Gov. Bill Clinton became president, the late, much loved and little lamented Ron Brown was Clinton's good friend and a power broker in the National Democratic Party. Ron Brown had a friend, a congressman from Houston, the late Mickey Leland, who died in 1989. Until his passing, Leland was a shining light in the Congressional Black Caucus and a dedicated socialist, who was one of the Institute for Policy Studies' delights.
From 1984, when Enron was conceived, Brown and Leland were there snapping up unconsidered trifles of money for use in their campaigns against the free market. Mickey was able to ease a lot of Enron's early problems through the Houston City Council by playing his "equal opportunity card." He had also become an African expert who initially took the Enron message to that continent, a chore that was taken on by Ron Brown, Clinton's secretary of commerce, before the latter met his untimely death in a highly controversial plane crash in Croatia. (Untimely, because had Secretary Brown lived, he would have faced multiple criminal indictments that could have precipitated an even earlier fall for Bill Clinton and his gang.)
Now we get to that old puzzle about chickens and eggs, and what came first! Ron Brown, Al Gore and Bill Clinton introduced Enron to market managers in Russia, China, Indonesia and India. In India, Enron quickly became involved in one of that country's most massive corruption investigations, contracts were canceled and Enron was out.
Seems like the Enron fraud investigation may rival the Marc Rich-BCCI racket.