Dear Sirs, I Am the Son of US President George H.W. Bush and I Have a Business Proposition for You

[seafan]

Mother Jones has an outstanding piece today, describing the fraudulent Nigerian water pump deal that continues to haunt Jeb Bush’s political career.




photo credit: Sipa/AP; sheff/Shutterstock via Mother Jones

In March 1989, Jeb Bush arrived in Nigeria to a royal welcome. More than 100,000 American-flag waving Nigerians lined the streets of Gombe to watch as the US president's son was honored with a 1,300-horse "durbar," a festival typically reserved for heads of state and religious holidays. Bush later met with Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Babangida, who had come to power in a 1985 military coup. They chatted about Cuban human rights and the failed nomination of John Tower, Bush's father's pick for defense secretary.

But the president's then-36-year-old son was not visiting Nigeria on a diplomatic mission. He had come to promote an industrial water pump company. The visit—and the $82 million deal tied to it—would form one of the more controversial episodes of Bush's business career and dog him for years after he jumped into politics. The deal became notorious because of allegations, outlined in thousands of pages of court documents, that the transaction had been greased through massive bribes to Nigerian officials paid for by American taxpayer money loaned through the US Export-Import Bank. The deal triggered a federal criminal investigation, as well as nearly two decades of civil litigation by the US Department of Justice that in 2013 resulted in a federal jury finding that the water pump company, MWI Corp., had defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars.



Bush has long tried to distance himself from the deal. He was not a defendant in the Justice Department lawsuit, and no criminal charges were ever brought against him or MWI. He has repeatedly said that he didn't directly profit from the venture or know about any alleged bribery or political influence peddling. But even the less salacious details of the deal, revealed in years of legal filings, don't reflect well on Bush.

Bush lent his name—and that of his prominent family—to an enterprise with hazards that should have been obvious. Nigeria, then as now, was infamous for its corruption that was virtually inescapable for anyone attempting to do business there. And according to the Justice Department and testimony in the trial, the company Bush was promoting sold overpriced agricultural equipment to an impoverished nation whose people often couldn't use it. In the process, the deal put the already indebted nation further into hock to foreign creditors.

Bush did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but as he prepares to announce his bid for the presidency, questions still linger about the exact part he played in a deal that the Justice Department said took advantage of both the Nigerian people and American taxpayers.

.....

I hope that when Jeb returns from his pretend presidency overseas this week, that industrious members of the mainstream media will see fit to question him about his role in this, yet another of his many shady business deals throughout his history, in which many of his associates were charged with corruption and/or still on the run from authorities. But, Jeb's fall-back explanation has always been to claim ignorance of how any of it repeatedly swirls around him.

It is past time to tear down these lies.

[63splitwindow]

1. I'll bet he made...

"Uncle" Dick Cheney proud!
[link:|

[NCjack]

2. So, according to JEB Bush, he was not filthy bribing agent who got a huge fee,

but he did work for free, kind'a like a missionary for capitalism. What a load of shit.

[seafan]

3. It's how he operates on his family name. Here is another example:

Jeb Bush to return $270,000 consultant fees paid to him by convicted fraudster Osorio

March 21, 2013

Former Gov. Jeb Bush has agreed to return $270,000 that he was paid as a consultant to convicted fraudster Claudio Osorio and Osorio’s companies.

An agreement outlining Bush’s settlement payment was filed Thursday in bankruptcy court in Miami.

According to the agreement, Bush was paid $468,901 between December 2007 and September 2010 for consulting “plus reasonable expenses.”

Bush and his company, Jeb Bush & Associates, are repaying the money to Soneet Kapila, a court-appointed fiduciary who is collecting funds Osorio stole from other people and used to fund business operations at InnoVida Holdings, his housing panel manufacturing business.

.....

Osorio is facing up to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was indicted Dec. 7 for defrauding investors, stashing their money around the world and lying to the U.S. government to obtain $10 million in loans, which were supposed to be used for building homes in Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake there.

.....

The settlement references a 2007 contract Bush’s company struck with Osorio for $15,000 a month.

.....

Such a shame that Jeb is such a colossal failure as a judge of character. Wink, wink.

And there are many more examples of how he traded on his family name to enrich himself.

Jeb, you should have listened to your mother.


And even, today, in Europe, Jeb claims that 'Putin has changed' since brother George saw into his soul.


<<<<PRIMAL SCREAMMMMMM>>>>


Has anyone asked yet whether this guy is in violation of the Logan Act?


And while he's over there, is it also merely coincidental that the 2015 Bilderberg meeting will reportedly be held in the Austrian mountains on June 11-14? Hhmmmmm.


So many questions. So few interested media.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

4. I swear,....when will Hoomons learn?

[nichomachus]

5. I thought "Bush" was Texas-speak for "fraudulent deal"

[kacekwl]

6. The Bush family

business continues . Lies , bribery , stolen elections , collusion with enemies the list goes on.