Is Rudy Giuliani financing his Presidential Campaign with US Funds earmarked for third world Country Debt Relief? See original post with links at CoolAqua.
The BBC's Greg Palast is one of the world's best investigative reporters. And his latest story doesn't bode well for the Giuliani Campaign or the Bush Administration. Mr. Palast has been following the British law suit against the nation of Zambia, brought by Vulture fund, Debt Advisory International. This is the description of a Vulture Fund described in a recent BBC article:
"Vulture funds - as defined by the International Monetary Fund and Gordon Brown amongst others - are companies which buy up the debt of poor nations cheaply when it is about to be written off and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest - which might be ten times what they paid for it."
As part of the Palast's BBC investigation, it turns out that American Billionaire Paul Singer, acknowledged inventor of Vulture Funds, is the largest personal contributor to George Bush's campaign, and has now pledged $15 million to the Campaign of Rudy Giuliani.
One has to wonder how much of the funds donated to the Bush Campaign, and promised funds for the Guiliani campaign, were essentially stolen thru quasi legal means from US debt relief funds appropriated by the well meaning US Congress, at the behest of the Bush Administration, for African or third world country Debt Relief.
Billionare Paul Singer's and other Vulture capitalists scam to fleece American Taxpayers appears to work as follows:
Well meaning Americans empathize with the suffering of starving third world citizen, being attacked by a changing climate, overpopulation, civil war and strife, and aids. President Bush magnanimously offers up a program to offer Debt Relief to the third world country, and the US Congress responds by approving funds, which are then held in a US account.
Simultaneously, Vulture funds such as Paul Singer's, knowing that the target country finances are about to be re-capitalized by the US Taxpayers, go out and buy up the debt which was supposed to be forgiven. Here's a recent example:
"...By extraordinary coincidence, the amount claimed is almost exactly the sum which Zambia is due to receive this year as a result of the Gleneagles debt deal..."
The Vulture funds then sue in England or other countries, and gain awards for the junk bonds that were about to be forgiven. After the Court rules in favor of the Vulture fund, the Vulture fund can then tap into the funds approved by the US Congress for debt relief.
In the case of the Vulture fund suit won Friday against Zambia, the $2 million dollar junk bonds bought by the Vulture fund must now be repaid with interest. Debt that the US Government planned on forgiving for $2 million dollars is now worth $40 million due to the British Court settlement.
Once the British Court Rules, the only one who can stop the Vulture fund from tapping into funds appropriated by the US Congress for debt relief is President Bush. And so far, President Bush has declined to prevent this misappropriation of debt relief funds:
"...And George Bush can put an end to it all with a stroke of a pen. Under the US Constitution, the President has the power to stop the vultures from collecting a penny in a US courtroom, but he hasn't done it, even though just last month George Bush publicly committed his government to debt relief..."
This probably explains why Paul Singer is President Bush's number one campaign contributor. According to Greg Palast:
" Here they are feeding on poor nations all over the globe. 36th floor, Elliott Associates, home of billionaire Paul Singer. Singer practically invented the vulture fund. In 1996, he bought up some of Peru's debt for $11 million, then threatened to bankrupt Peru if they didn't give him $58 million. He got his $58 million. Then Singer bought some discounted debt from Congo Brazzaville for only about $10 million. His company then sued the Congo and turned the $10 million into $127 million.
Now that President Bush is leaving office in 2008, US Billionaire Paul Singer needs to buy off the incoming US President, as currently the US President is the only one with the power to stop these types of transactions. Its no wonder then that Billionaire Paul Singer has pledged $15 million to the Rudy Giuliani Campaign.
Will the Giuliani Campaign get away with fillings its campaign coffers with funds meant for debt relief suffering Africans? In addition to the morally reprehensible nature of these transactions, was any of the money derived from extortion?
I am looking forward to hearing other Presidental Candidates ask Rudy Giuliani why he is accepting campaign funds from Vulture Capitalists, and if he considers it ethical to be using US Taxpayer funds intended for third world country debt relief to fund his Presidential Campaign.
So whats being done about this? John Conyers has asked President Bush about this; Bush's response - "I didn't know anything about this." I'm sure Conyers will investigate. It looks like Greg Palast's coverage of this issue will be an ongoing effort as this story unfolds. It would also be nice if the IRS looked into whether Billionares such as Singer are actually paying taxes on money they take from the US Treasury, or if these transactions have been totally legal.