Ex-Malaysia PM: Abramoff Was Paid $1.2M

[ProSense]

Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 by the Associated Press

Ex-Malaysia PM: Abramoff Was Paid $1.2M

by Pauline Jasudason

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said disgraced U.S. lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize a meeting between him and President Bush in 2002, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.

Mahathir told reporters late Monday he was aware the payment was made to Abramoff, but he didn't know who made it.

"I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government," Mahathir said.

Mahathir said that at the time he had been persuaded by the Heritage Foundation in Washington to meet with Bush because the conservative think tank believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies."

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http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0221-08.htm