Saudis, Indians among Clinton foundation donors (updated)

Saudis, Indians among Clinton foundation donors

By BETH FOUHY and SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writers Beth Fouhy And Sharon Theimer, Associated Press Writers –

WASHINGTON – Former President Bill Clinton's foundation has raised at least $41 million from Saudi Arabia and other foreign governments that his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton may end up negotiating with as the next secretary of state.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave $10 million to $25 million to the William J. Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit created by the former president to finance his library in Little Rock, Ark., and charitable efforts to reduce poverty and treat AIDS. Other foreign government givers include Norway, Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei, Oman, Italy and Jamaica.

The foundation disclosed the names of its 205,000 donors on a Web site Thursday, ending a decade of resistance to identifying the sources of its money. While the list is heavy with international business leaders and billionaires, some 12,000 donors gave $10 or less.

Clinton agreed to release the information after concerns emerged that his extensive international fundraising and business deals could conflict with America's interests if his wife became Obama's top diplomat. The foundation has insisted for years it is under no legal obligation to identify its contributors, contending that many expected confidentiality when they donated.

The list also underscores ties between the Clintons and India, a connection that could complicate diplomatic perceptions of whether Hillary Clinton can be a neutral broker between India and neighbor Pakistan in a region where President-elect Barack Obama will face an early test of his foreign policy leadership.

The former president did not release specific totals for each donor, providing only ranges of giving. Nor did he identify individual contributors' occupations or countries of residence.

Donors gave Clinton's foundation at least $492 million from its inception in 1997 through last year, the most recent figures available.

After negotiations with Obama's transition team, Clinton promised to reveal the contributors, submit future foundation activities and paid speeches to an ethics review, step away from the day-to-day operation of his annual charitable conference and inform the State Department about new sources of income and speeches.

Representatives of the foundation, including CEO Bruce Lindsay and attorney Cheryl Mills, met privately Wednesday with aides to incoming Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry of Massachusetts and ranking Republican Dick Lugar of Indiana to discuss the foundation's activities and review a memorandum of understanding drawn up by the Clinton and Obama teams.

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Clinton dumps 2,922 pages of donor info

By MIKE ALLEN | 12/18/08

Former President Bill Clinton beat his end-of-the-year deadline for disclosing the 208,000 donors to his foundation and presidential library, as part of the agreement that allowed President-elect Obama to name Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of State.

The list is here – all 2,922 pages.

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According to the William J. Clinton Web site, here are the 18 largest donors:

Greater than $25,000,000
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation
UNITAID

$10,000,001 to $25,000,000
AUSAID
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Stephen L. Bing
COPRESIDA-Secretariado Tecnico
Fred Eychaner
Frank Giustra, Chief Executive Officer, The Radcliffe Foundation
Tom Golisano
The Hunter Foundation
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The ELMA Foundation
Theodore W. Waitt

$5,000,001 to $10,000,000
Government of Norway
Nationale Postcode Loterij
Haim Saban and The Saban Family Foundation
Michael Schumacher
The Wasserman Foundation

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$1,000,001 to $5,000,000
Sheikh Mohammed H. Al-Amoudi
Nasser Al-Rashid
Dubai Foundation
Friends of Saudi Arabia
Princess Diana Memorial Fund

$1,000,001 to $5,000,000
State of Kuwait
State of Qatar
Swiss Reinsurance Company
Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office
The Government of Brunei Darussalam
The Sultanate of Oman

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The Company is advised that the securities were acquired by the Radcliffe Foundation and Mr. Giustra for investment purposes. While they do not currently have any intention to acquire further securities of the Company, the Radcliffe Foundation or Mr. Giustra may in the future acquire or dispose of securities of the Company, through the market or otherwise, as circumstances or market conditions warrant.

The Radcliffe Foundation is a charitable foundation established to support local and international charities with the support of Frank Giustra, who is a member of the Foundation. The Radcliffe Foundation, together with the newly created Clinton-Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, provides support to alleviate poverty and build sustainable local economies in the world's developing countries.

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Also in this category is Frank Giustra, the Canadian mining financier whose dealings with Mr. Clinton have drawn questions in the past. Mr. Clinton traveled with Mr. Giustra in 2005 to Kazakhstan, where Mr. Giustra was seeking uranium contracts. Mr. Clinton lavished praise on Kazakhstan’s authoritarian leader, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Mr. Giustra’s company soon afterward signed preliminary agreements to buy into state-controlled uranium projects.

Months later, The New York Times reported earlier this year, Mr. Giustra donated $31.3 million to the Clinton foundation. On the list posted Thursday, Mr. Giustra is reported as having given between $10 million and $25 million personally and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative-Canada is reported as having given between $1 million and $5 million.

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The Blackwater Training Center donated $10,001 to $25,000. The State Department — to be led by Hillary Clinton if she is confirmed — will have to decide next year whether to renew Blackwater Worldwide's contract to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq. Five Blackwater guards have been indicted by a U.S. grand jury on manslaughter and weapons charges stemming from a September 2007 firefight in Baghdad's Nisoor Square in which 17 Iraqis died.

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