Bill Clinton Linked To Uranium Scandal

the business insider ^ | 5/27/09

[FromLori]

Here's a fascinating politics/energy/international relations story that's flying below the radar now, but feels as though it could get huge. The news starts with Uranium One (UUU), a Toronto-listed uranium miner, whose shares plunged 38% on news that the Kazakhstan government was probing whether certain Kazakh mines it owns were acquired illegally. Specifically, it's looking at potentially illegal asset sales by Mukhtar Dzhakishev, the former head of state-owned uranium miner Kazatomprom, who later sought favors from the man who sold the assets to, Frank Giustra, and Bill Clinton.

Reuters: [O]ne deal in question was the sale of a 30 percent stake in the owner of the country's largest uranium mine, Khorasan, although it did not specify the buyer. It said the stake was sold for 15.6 million tenge ($104,000)

Uranium One owns a 30 percent stake in that mine, while a group of Japanese firms owns another 40 percent. The rest is owned by Kazatomprom.

Uranium One said its Kazakh assets, which also include stakes in the Akdala and South Inkai mines, were acquired in 2005 by UrAsia Energy, which Uranium One bought in 2007.

Ok, so far so good. But who is UrAsia? The company was the subject of a NYT piece just last year that explored its close ties to Bill Clinton:

Late on Sept. 6, 2005, a private plane carrying the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra touched down in Almaty, a ruggedly picturesque city in southeast Kazakhstan. Several hundred miles to the west a fortune awaited: highly coveted deposits of uranium that could fuel nuclear reactors around the world. And Mr. Giustra was in hot pursuit of an exclusive deal to tap them.

[stefanbatory]

a Clinton? involved in a money-making scam? yadontsay?

[eeriegeno]

a Clinton? involved in a money-making scam? yadontsay?

Were knee-pads involved in this one too?

[BerryDingle]

If this gets any bigger we’ll see some more Arkancides.

[piasa]

BUMP