Tangled Clinton Web: Firms tied to Clintons profited in post-quake Haiti

(Version Française de cet article; French version of the above article)

Bill and Hillary Clinton

On Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake. More than 200,000 died, and over 100,000 buildings and homes were destroyed.

Within four days, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived to survey the damage. 

Clinton assured the Haitian people that, "the United States is a friend, partner, and a supporter." 

The government of Haiti set up the IHRC -- the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission -- to coordinate the nation's recovery. 

Former President Bill Clinton was named co-chair of that committee. He expressed hope that the island nation would be, "rebuilt in a much stronger, much sustainable way. I think the Haitians want that." 

Peter Schweizer

But Peter Schweizer*, author of the new book "Clinton Cash," that investigates the tangle of money, politics and personal interest that has come to characterize the Clintons' interactions around the world, says that: "What quickly became apparent to many people was that if you ... wanted to do business in Haiti, you had to have relationships with a Clinton. That was absolutely key." 

Perhaps the most celebrated project of all was Caracol Industrial Park. 

Its grand opening was as glitzy as a Hollywood premiere. 

The Clintons at the opening of the Haiti Industrial Park of Caracol

"You had Bill Clinton there," said Schweizer. "You had Hillary Clinton there. You had Donna Karan, the fashion designer. You had Ben Stiller. You had Sean Penn." 

The anchor tenant of Caracol Industrial Park is a Korean manufacturer who is also a big Clinton supporter. 

And then there was Digicel. It helped create a system to transfer money via cell phones. In the six months running up to September 2012, it took in more than $50 million in revenue in Haiti. 

Digicel is run by Irish billionaire Denis O'Brien. He set up lucrative speeches for Bill Clinton and donated millions of dollars of his own money to the Clintons' foundation.

Denis O'Brien of Digicel

There was also a plan to raise money by exploiting Haiti's rich mineral wealth. 

One company that got a rare gold permit was VCS mining. It didn't actually have much mining experience, but it would soon have Hillary Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, on its board. 

"Tony Rodham has no background in Haiti and he has no background in mining," said Schweizer. "Why on earth is he on the board and in this position to profit from VCS's mining gold exploitation permit in the first place?"

(Version Française de cet article; French version of the above article)

Source: FoxNews 


Footnote from Haiti Connexion Network: Peter Schweizer, the author of "Clinton Cash" did admit that he had no evidence of Clinton Crimes