The Carlyle Group, a large investment firm linked to US and British politicians, has pulled out of a scheme to recover billions of dollars from Iraq, following the publication in The Guardian this week of documents detailing the secret proposals of a consortium with which it was involved.
Carlyle published a withdrawal letter yesterday sent to other members of its consortium.
The consortium offered a confidential deal to use its political influence to collect a US$27 billion debt owed by Iraq to Kuwait, despite US pleas for debt forgiveness from other countries.
A Carlyle partner, former US secretary of state James Baker, has been accused of a conflict of interest, because he has been touring the world demanding debt relief on behalf of US President George W. Bush, while his firm had a private interest in doing a special deal with Kuwait.
Carlyle's letter, signed by its general counsel, Jeffrey Ferguson, and dated Oct. 13, says: "Carlyle does not want to participate in the consortium's work in any way, shape or form and will not invest any money raised by the consortium's efforts."
The letter also claims that at the time Baker was appointed the president's debt envoy that "Mr Baker understood that Carlyle would have no involvement with the consortium."
Carlyle admits it was involved in the original scheme by a consortium of financiers and lobbyists, who lobbied Kuwait at a meeting on July 16 last year.
Documents from the consortium describe Carlyle's chairman, former US defense secretary Frank Carlucci, as the man who "played a convening and guiding role on behalf of Carlyle."
They also specifically mention Baker's name as one of the "leading individuals associated with Carlyle" who they claim will be free to play a "decisive role" once Baker retires from his "temporary position" as debt forgiveness envoy.
The scheme had two parts. The first was to turn over Kuwait's US$27 billion war reparations debt to a foundation set up by the consortium, which would then use its political influence to ensure Iraq was made to pay up.
The second part of the plan was to benefit Carlyle specifically, by handing over to them US$1 billion from Kuwait to manage in their investment funds.
The documents suggest that Carlyle scaled back its stated involvement in the scheme while Baker was in his official post, but Kuwait was informed by the consortium that this was temporary.
The letter to Kuwait with the detailed proposal confirming Carlyle's continuation as a participant was signed by another former secretary of state turned lobbyist, Madeleine Albright, by a Washington law firm, Coudert Bros, and by the consortium's leader, Shahameen Sheikh of the "International Strategy Group."
In its second change of position in as many days, Carlyle claimed yesterday in its letter that "Carlyle was never a member of the consortium." The previous day, its spokesman claimed Carlyle "withdrew" from the consortium after Baker became debt envoy last December.
The day before that, its spokesman Chris Ullman told The Guardian, Carlyle had merely "restricted" its consortium role.
‘THEY KILLED HOPE’: Four presidential candidates were killed in the 1980s and 1990s, and Miguel Uribe’s mother died during a police raid to free her from Pablo Escobar Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said on Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation’s violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former Colombian president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on June 7 at a rally in the capital, Bogota, by a suspected 15-year-old hitman. Despite signs of progress in the past few weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had a new brain hemorrhage. “To break up a family is the most horrific act of violence that
HISTORIC: After the arrest of Kim Keon-hee on financial and political funding charges, the country has for the first time a former president and former first lady behind bars South Korean prosecutors yesterday raided the headquarters of the former party of jailed former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol to gather evidence in an election meddling case against his wife, a day after she was arrested on corruption and other charges. Former first lady Kim Keon-hee was arrested late on Tuesday on a range of charges including stock manipulation and corruption, prosecutors said. Her arrest came hours after the Seoul Central District Court reviewed prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant against the 52-year-old. The court granted the warrant, citing the risk of tampering with evidence, after prosecutors submitted an 848-page opinion laying out
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS