The Obama Administration Found That US Companies' "Charitable Donations" To Foreign Governments, When They Had Business Before That Government, Constituted Disguised Bribes; Why Would Foreign Governments' Donations to the Clinton Foundation Not Count Then

Because they're The Clintons and The Rules Don't Apply to Them?

Only possible answer. Mollie Hemingway's case is airtight.

Last week the Washington Post reported that Algeria gave half a million dollars to Bill and Hillary Clinton's foundation while at the same time lobbying Hillary Clinton at the State Department. At a forum in Miami this weekend, Bill Clinton defended taking money from Algeria and other countries while his wife held a high-level government position....

One interesting way to look at the ethics of such a donation is how the U.S. government handles donations to foreign charities by U.S. entities lobbying government officials. Remember this part of the Post story:

The money was given to assist with earthquake relief in Haiti, the foundation said. At the time, Algeria, which has sought a closer relationship with Washington, was spending heavily to lobby the State Department on human rights issues.

If the money was given for the stated purpose of earthquake relief, does that make the donation clean even though Algeria sought something from Hillary Clinton's agency?

In 2011 and 2012, the Obama administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission levied large penalties against U.S. pharmaceutical companies for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. These included Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and Eli Lilly and Company. Among the charges was making donations to a charitable foundation in Poland.

That charitable foundation was run by an official with a regional health ministry who had the authority to make pharmaceutical purchasing decisions. The charitable foundation was legitimate and the foundation’s work was for a good cause. But the U.S. government found that the donation still had a corrupt purpose.

And the US government fined those companies nearly thirty million dollars for those barely-disguised bribes.

What penalty will Ms. Clinton pay?

posted by Ace at 02:58 PM

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