Shocking links have emerged tying Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton to the late tyrant, General Sani Abacha suggesting that the American politician may have benefitted from Abacha’s tyranny.
According to Sahara Reporters, it is alleged that a senior official of the Clinton Foundation, sought State Department favors for Gilbert Chagoury, the Nigerian-Lebanese businessman convicted of helping former head of state Sani Abacha steal billions of public dollars.
These revelations were said to be contained in a 2009 exchange of emails between Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band and two senior State Department officials during Mrs. Clinton’s time as Secretary of State.
These allegations have of course caused whispers to fly around especially as the US elections are coming up soon.
It has become canon fodder for the Republican party to mud sling and they’ve claimed that the Clintons abused their role as public servants, and worked against US interests, by granting favors to foreign interests through their Foundation.
Sahara Reporters report that the emails sent on April 25th, 2009 further allege that Mr. Band, a former aide to US President Bill Clinton and a key figure at the Foundation, emailed Secretary of State Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills and deputy chief Huma Abedin with a request that they schedule a meeting between Mr. Chagoury and the key US “substance person” in Lebanon. Mr. Band described Mr. Chagoury as a “key guy” for the foundation and said the meeting was “very important.”
Mrs. Abedin, a longtime personal aide to Mrs. Clinton, replied by agreeing to contact the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman, on Mr. Chagoury’s behalf, prompting a final email from Mr. Band urging her to call the Ambassador immediately, reminding her again that Mr. Chagoury was “very important.”
It turns out that the very Important Mr. Chagoury was a go-between for the Abacha regime and that their relationship has been on for years even from before Abacha seized power.
He had also donated generously to the Clinton foundation and quite suspiciously, all plans to sanction Nigeria after the suspected assassination of MKO Abiola for human rights violation were shelved.
Abacha is seen by many as the worst leader the country has ever had with the many atrocities that occurred during his regime and he was also able to make himself wealthy with the help of Chagoury.
Mr. Chagoury had been said to have designed a complex global network of shell companies, offshore bank accounts and fraudulent business deals that allowed Abacha and his family and cronies – including himself – to siphon off an estimated $4 billion in oil revenue and tax money in 1993 when the General seized power.
Chagoury was rumored to be the man to go to if any business wanted to move into Nigeria at that time and he’d take his cut and provide Abacha and his inner circle with their. Even Nuhu Ribadu erstwhile head of the EFCC said one couldn’t investigate corruption without looking at Chagoury.
The donation of Chagoury to the Clinton foundation (rumoured to be $500,000) which Hillary Clinton was very active in was money that may have been gotten from the millions he laundered from Nigeria in collaboration with Abacha, money that Abacha himself got from oppressing Nigerians.
Mr. Chagoury was finally convicted In 2000 of laundering stolen money in Switzerland, and returned $66 million to the Nigerian treasury. A year later, he admitted in a London court to having laundered $300 million for the Abacha family, and escaped prosecution by agreeing to return as much as $200 million to the Nigerian treasury. Mr. Chagoury was also investigated by the US in connection with the Halliburton bribery scheme which funneled $180 million to Abacha, but escaped prosecution.
Unfortunately, the Clinton Foundation have been unable to explain why they accepted donations from a convicted money launderer of Nigeria’s stolen wealth or why they intervened with the State Department on his behalf.