FROM OUR BRITISH COUSINS GUS.....
Bill Clinton back at centre of ethics debate
By Alex Spillius
Bill Clinton used his influence with the president of Kazakhstan to help a business friend gain a lucrative uranium mining deal, it has been claimed.
The report in the New York Times will raise concerns about possible conflicts of interest that the former president could face if he returns to the White House as "first gentleman" and raised the spectre of the financial scandals that dogged the Clintons in the White House.
Mr Clinton has already began cutting his links to Ron Burkle, the supermarket magnate who has paid the couple considerable sums in consulting fees while benefiting from the association with the popular former president.
However, the Kazakh connection had been kept under wraps and could prove damaging as Mrs Clinton's tussle with Barack Obama for the Democratic Party's nomination intensifies.
The New York Times detailed how, on a visit to Kazakhstan in 2005, Mr Clinton praised President Nursultan Nazarbayev for "opening up the social and political life of your country".
He also recommended that Kazakhstan should lead the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, an ad hoc group under the United Nations umbrella that monitors elections.
Mr Nazarbayev had been pursuing the OSCE's rotating leadership - a goal he finally achieved in late 2007 - as a way of gaining credibility for his government.
His rule, which began when the Soviet Union broke up, had long been criticised for stifling human rights and rigging elections - including in a Human Rights Watch report on election fraud published yesterday.
Mr Clinton's support for Kazakhstan ran contrary to US administration policy, and to the wishes of a Congressional commission that his wife sat on as senator for New York.
In early 2005 Mrs Clinton signed a letter to the State Department saying that Kazakhstan's bid "would not be acceptable" and raised "alarm bells" about "serious corruption" and strong-armed control of the media.
In a statement to the New York Times, a spokesman for Mr Clinton said the former president saw "no contradiction" between his support for Kazakhstan and Mrs Clinton's position.
The official purpose of Mr Clinton's trip had been to launch an agreement on discounted drugs for Aids patients.
However, Mr Clinton travelled with Mark Giustra, a Canadian businessman who was seeking a lucrative deal to partner the Kazakh government in a uranium mining project.
A few days after they had dined with Mr Nazarbayev, Mr Giustra's company signed an agreement to buy into three projects with Kazatomprom, the state-owned uranium agency, according to records seen by the New York Times.
Months later, Mr Giustra made a ?16?million donation to the Clinton Foundation, which has grown into a significant global charity since Mr Clinton left office.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...wuspols401.xml
SR: Do we really want these people back in office for another 8 years ? [img]rolleyes.gif[/img]
