Ex Malaysian leader confirms Abramoff payoff for meeting w/Bush

[Oilwellian]

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday that disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize his 2002 meeting with President Bush, but denied the money came from the Malaysian government.


Mahathir told reporters he was aware a payment was made to Abramoff, but he didn't know who made it. He said he had been persuaded by the U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation to meet with Bush at the time.


"It is true that somebody paid but it was not the (Malaysian) government," Mahathir said. "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 the Heritage Foundation believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding U.S. policies."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/02/20/international/i210516S41.DTL

[Doctor_J]

1. Jack who?

never heard of him :eyes:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. Heritage? Hooo boy. They got sum splainin to do, Lucy.

[Igel]

3. Mahathir?

You're right, they do.

[Eugene]

4. And George Bush doesn't know Jack?

Excellent! Now if Jack Abramoff can help prosecutors connect the dots
on this by saying who paid him, we have a case of pay for play if not
outright bribery.

:kick: and recommended!

On edit: $2.1 million, that's a lot of palm grease!

[Oilwellian]

5. I'm wondering who paid the $1.2 million

And what were the policies the Malaysian president could influence Bush with? Finally, why is the president of a country having to pay to get a meeting with Bush? Particularly one that was cooperating in the war on terra. The snake pit, aka The Heritage Foundation is also an interesting aside to this story.