Drip, drip, drip: New Clinton Foundation scandal!
Fresh disgrace involves hundreds of millions of dollars
Published: 10 hours ago
NEW YORK – The embattled Clinton Foundation – accused of illegally enriching its namesakes and receiving politically infused donations from foreign nations and figures – is not registered as a charity in Ireland, even though the nonprofit has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in the island nation.
Ireland’s Charities Regulatory Authority stated in an email to Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel that its records show the Clinton Foundation under its various names, including the Clinton Health Access and the Clinton Global Initiative, is not registered as a charity in Ireland.
Ortel who has been investigating the Clinton Foundation, as WND has reported, asked the CRA to confirm whether or not the Clinton Foundation or its subsidiaries are “validly registered within Ireland as charities.”
On Sept. 22, the CRA’s Brenda Ryan replied: “According to our records there are no charities or subsidiaries on the Public Register.”
Ortel noted to WND the record shows the Clinton Foundation “virtually since its inception has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in Ireland, often in conjunction with the Irish government.”
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“This raises the question,” Ortel said, “whether the Clinton Foundation has violated both U.S. federal law regarding the operation of U.S. charities in foreign countries and Irish law with regard to the operation of a foreign charity raising donations in Ireland, that merit the serious consideration of federal and state regulators in the United States as well as regulators in Ireland.”
In his 2007 book, “Giving,” former President Bill Clinton noted that, beginning in 2002, he teamed with longtime associate Ira Magaziner to formulate a plan “to work with governments that asked for our help to increase care and treatment” to fight HIV/AIDS by purchasing generic drugs, with the governments of Ireland and Canada being the first “donors.”
The Development Cooperation Ireland, part of the Irish government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, commonly known as “Irish Aid,” said in its 2004 annual report:
Ireland has prioritized HIV/AIDS in its overseas development program. In 2003 the Government of Ireland entered into a partnership with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. This partnership forms a key component of our overall response to HIV/AIDS which is embedded in advocating for a sustained and resourced response to HIV/AIDS which is embedded in advocating for a sustained and resourced response to HIV/AIDS; strengthening leadership at all levels; and improving coordination of resources and planning across government departments.
While the fact that the Clinton Foundation worked with the government of Ireland to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa is not in doubt, a careful examination of public and government records leads to the conclusion that in the transaction between Irish Aid, the Clinton Foundation and the government of Mozambique, tens of millions of dollars are missing.
On July 9, 2003, the government of Ireland announced it had signed an agreement with former President Bill Clinton to donate up to $158.3 million to the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation for the purchase of antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive people in Mozambique. The foundation at the time, however, had received an IRS tax-favored determination letter only to build the Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, not to fight HIV/AIDS internationally.
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The agreement made Ireland the world’s third largest buyer of AIDS drugs, the Irish Examiner reported at the time.
“Under the agreement, Ahern committed the country to providing $71.9 million over five years with the possibility of an additional allocation of $86.3 million,” the paper continued. “The grant will enable Mozambique to provide access to HIV/AIDS treatment for up to 500,000 people.”
According to the Examiner, the agreement provided for a collaborative effort between the Clinton Foundation and the government’s Development Cooperation Ireland, making Ireland the first nation to publicly declare its support for increasing access to antiretrovirals, a fact Clinton noted at the signing of the agreement.
Then, on Sept. 29, 2006, Ahern signed a new agreement “under a renewed partnership with the Clinton Foundation” that would focus on addressing HIV/AIDS “in two of the worst affected countries in the world,” Mozambique and Lesotho.
The government of Ireland pledged under the new agreement to provide 60 million euros ($67.2 million) to Mozambique and 10 million euros ($11.2 million) to Lesotho over the next five years, making Ireland the largest country donor to the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative.
The Irish government press release announcing the 2006 deal with the Clinton Foundation noted Ireland had made the fight against HIV/AIDS a core priority of the Irish Aid program. Ireland at that time planned to spend in excess of 100 million euros ($112 million) per year “helping developing countries halt the spread and deal with the impact of this disease.”
‘What happened to the missing millions?’
On Aug. 4, Brenda Wilson at the Irish Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade emailed Ortel to confirm the Clinton Health Access Initiative, CHAI, is a partner of Irish Aid in two of its partner countries, Mozambique and Lesotho.
“Irish Aid funding supports the provision by CHAI of technical support to the Ministries of Health in those two countries,” Wilson said.
“Within the current framework of Irish Aid cooperation with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (2011-2015), Irish Aid funding has been provided directly to the Ministries of health in Mozambique (€60m) and Lesotho (€8.246m),” Wilson’s email continued. “During that period, funding to CHAI itself amounted to a total of €2.088m ($2,334,668).”
Wilson’s email provided the following table to summarize total direct funding provided to CHAI for the provision of technical support to the ministries of health in Mozambique and Lesotho from 2008 through 2015:
Ortel told WND the Clinton Foundation’s audited financial statements provided to regulators and the annual reports dating back to the initiation of the Irish Aid program to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa fail to document where the missing millions initially pledged by the Irish government went. They also fail to show whether or not the Irish Aid donations flowed through the Clinton Foundation, CHAI, or were sent directly to the governments of Mozambique and Lesotho.
“The presumption seems to be that because the Clinton Foundation is fighting HIV/AIDS, the Clinton Foundation and its various subsidiaries do not have to worry about formalities, including whether or not the Clinton Foundation is acting as an agent of a foreign government, or violating charitable giving laws in the United States or in foreign nations,” Ortel said.
On Jan. 25, 2011, the Irish Independent provided reason to be concerned, reporting that Global Fund, a charity established by U2 singer Bono to fight AIDS, tuberculosis,and malaria in the Third World, confirmed 25 million euros ($28 million) had gone unaccounted for in a 15 billion euros ($16.8 million) development fund to which Irish Aid had contributed 115 million euros ($128.7 million).
“The corruption includes millions spent on cars and motorbikes without receipts, millions more disappearing through faked invoices, and free drugs from donors being sold on the black market,” James O’Brien noted in writing the Irish Independent report.
O’Brien further commented that Global Fund admitted only a tiny fraction of the 8 billion euros ($9 million) claimed to have been allocated since 2002 to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria had ever been audited.
Massive corruption in Mozambique
Ortel noted that under U.S. law, a U.S. charity must control its foreign operations..
“If the U.S. charity acts as an agent of a foreign government furthering the work of that foreign government, donations to the charity likely will not be deemed eligible for tax deductions,” he said.
Ortel pointed out that all U.S. persons “operating U.S. charities in foreign countries must also be mindful of Foreign Corruption Practices rules, which would have been almost impossible to have avoided violating, given the massive corruption rampant in Mozambique, especially when the program started.”
“Perhaps it is too much to expect primary U.S. regulators based in Arkansas, and even the IRS to monitor activities of a public charity like the Clinton Foundation that receives monies in a wide array of currencies and then, supposedly, allocates these donations to causes in numerous foreign locations,” Ortel said.
“On the other hand, the long pattern of late, confusing and inaccurate public filings of Clinton Foundation entities is certainly one of many ‘red flags for fraud of which experienced auditors and analysts are well aware,” he concluded.
On Sept. 13, WND reported Ortel’s conclusion that the Clinton Foundation’s solicitation of “charitable donations” to fight HIV/AIDS in Third World countries traces back to a conversation Bill Clinton had with Nelson Mandala in 2002.
However, the Clinton Foundation did not receive IRS tax-exempt authorization to fight HIV/AIDS until eight years later.
Beginning in 2002, the Clinton Foundation portrayed itself as a charitable organization soliciting tax-exempt donations worldwide to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
However, these efforts were “not explicitly approved in advance by the IRS and therefore were not validly constituted under domestic and international laws,” Ortel stressed.
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/drip-drip-drip-new-clinton-foundation-scandal/#f1lVvHP83OymuCjf.99
