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An Australian investigative journalist who is a retired police detective said Tuesday he has been asked to provide the FBI with details about multiple allegations of mishandling millions of dollars contributed to the Clinton Foundation by the Aussie government.
“I have been asked to provide the FBI with further and better particulars about allegations regarding improper donations to the CF funded by Australian taxpayers,” Michael Smith told LifeZette.
At the center of Smith’s complaints are former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and multiple Australian government officials, including senior diplomat Alexander Downer, that government’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Downer hit U.S. headlines recently when he was reported to have told the FBI of a May 2016 conversation he had with George Papadopoulos, then a campaign aide to President Donald Trump. Downer told U.S. law enforcement officials that Papadopoulos told him Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
12:00AM February 20, 2016
Australian governments of both political persuasions have paid more than $75 million in the past 10 years to arms of the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation that are now mired in controversy.
The government has not made any formal donation to the Clinton Foundation, but since 2006 it has entered into a series of partnerships with the foundation in which the American presidential candidate’s family outfit acted as a “technical implementing partner” in the delivery of aid programs.
The government still has three active arrangements with the Clinton Health Access Initiative to deliver aid in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Vietnam.
Reports in US newspapers The Boston Globe and The Washington Post have accused CHAI of failing to adequately report to the US State Department its revenues from foreign governments.
The question of the money the Clinton Foundation raises from foreign governments became a political issue in the US when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state in 2009. It was agreed the Clinton Foundation would notify the State Department of any foreign donations or revenues. This was to ensure there were no conflicts of interest with foreign governments seeking goodwill with the secretary of state by donating money to what was then her husband’s foundation.
The Boston Globe alleges CHAI did not disclose all its foreign money to the department. It reported that foreign government grants to CHAI had doubled from $US26m in 2010 to $US56m in 2013. A Republican Party website identifies Australia as the single biggest foreign-government source of funds for the Clinton Foundation.
Australian government figures obtained by The Australian show a steady flow of government money to the foundation as a “technical implementing partner” since the 2006-07 financial year.
That year Australian taxpayers spent $6.5m through the Clinton Foundation. This increased to $9m the following year. The peak year so far was 2012-13, with $10.3m going to the foundation.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing or financial impropriety by any Australian agency.
AusAID held CHAI to the same level of scrutiny and accountability as it did all other recipients of Australian aid dollars, and believed CHAI had a good record in bringing HIV testing and other medical services to impoverished communities.
It is not clear why Canberra had to go through an American foundation to deliver aid to Asian countries. There is now every chance the payments will become embroiled in presidential politics.
originally posted by: rickymouse
The AU government did put their money on Clinton, they figured she would take care of them when she won. It backfired, and I do not think Clinton would have actually repaid half the favors anyway. Those people should have donated to the DNC instead.
The Prime Minister's department was responsible for the detailed research on the risks and consequences of changing the pharmaceutical patent system.
Nor did it stop this, as DFAT told me in a statement last week:
“Prior to 2013, a small amount of Australian aid money was expended on Ranbaxy pharmaceutical products in Papua New Guinea to support the PNG Government’s health programs.” Kind regards Media Liaison Officer
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Ho hum. A small amount of smoking gun. Perhaps not so small if it's you or your mum who got the Ranbaxy dodgy drugs.
this from the Gillard Government in 2011 announcing Australia's intention to allow our Federal Court to override patent protections for certain pharmaceuticals.
Clinton held himself out as a proprietor of the Foundation in the MOU he signed. As a disqualified person with no role in the Presidential Library Foundation he purported to represent he had no authority or power to "make the battle against HIV a major area of focus for his Foundation"