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Posted on 08/13/2002 6:24:03 AM PDT by backhoe
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 10:50 AM
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Enron_List: for Enron_List articles. Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register |
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/1/26/192056.shtml
it was insured by the u.s. taxpayer to the tune of $200,000,000....
DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
...but I'd swear there were stories, files and witnesses linking the clintons, their corrupt friends, the Indonesians, and the Chinese- going back into the mid-1970's.
I'm sure Lieberman would call Trihatmodjo if it could be proven that he had something valuable to say. Also, the son of Indonesia's dictator isn't senior enough to be called. Besides, it's old news, we should be looking forward to correcting problems, not backwards pointing fingers and looking to blame, yada yada yada, blah blah blah...
-PJ
PRESIDENTIAL TREASON Study CoursesPrepared by Gretchen Glass,
Creating The Conditions - Presidential Treason 101 - April 17, 1999
The Stage Is Set - Presidential Treason 102 - May 6, 1999
The "Legal Team" - Presidential Treason 103 - June 12, 1999
The "Banking Team" - Presidential Treason 104 - August 21, 1999
The "White House Chiefs of Staff" - Presidential Treason 105 - September 12, 1999
Charles R. Smith
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
Energy Giant Had Deal With Suharto's Son Sought NATO Membership for Croatia
The ongoing investigation into the failure of Enron has led directly to the corrupt Clinton administration. One such Enron deal pushed by the Clinton White House was an exclusive power plant project with the son of Indonesian dictator Suharto, Bambang Trihatmodjo.
Bambang is Suharto's second son and at one point he was worth over $3 billion. The 48-year-old Bambang also owns an $8 million penthouse in Singapore and a $12 million mansion in an exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, two doors down from rock star Rod Stewart.
Starting in 1994, Enron invested $25 million into a deal for the first natural gas-fired power plant in Pasuruan, East Java. According to Commerce Department documents, Enron's partner in the planned $525 million project was Bambang Trihatmodjo.
Despite the clear evidence of Suharto corruption, Ron Brown personally sought approval for the Enron electric power plant. According to a personal letter directed to the Indonesian minister for trade and industry, Brown endorsed Enron deals for two gas-fired power plants with the corrupt Suharto regime.
"Enron power, a world renowned private power developer, is in the final stages of negotiating two combined cycle, gas turbine power projects," wrote Brown in his 1995 letter.
"The first, a 500 MW plant in East Java, should begin commercial power generation by the end of 1997 if it can promptly negotiate a gas supply Memorandum of Understanding with Pertamina. The other project, a smaller plant in East Kalimantan, also awaits a gas supply agreement.
"I urge you to give full consideration to the proposals," concluded Brown to the Indonesian minister.
In October 1995, Brown wrote another letter, this time to Hartarto Sastrosurarto, Indonesia's coordinating minister for trade and industry, pressing him to conclude Enron's power plant deal.
"I would like to bring to your attention a number of projects involving American companies which seem to be stalled, including several independent power projects.
"These projects include the Tarahan power project, which involves Southern Electric; the gas powered projects in East Java and East Kalimantan, which involves Enron," wrote Brown.
"Your support for prompt resolution of the remaining issues associated with each of these projects would be most appreciated," concluded Brown.
By September 1997, Enron announced the Indonesian power deal was nearly complete. According to Enron, it had signed an agreement to acquire natural gas for its 500-megawatt power plant under development in East Java Indonesia. The 20-year supply agreement was signed with Pertamina, Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company.
"This is one of the last critical steps before the East Java project can achieve financial close and commence construction," said Rebecca P. Mark, chairman and CEO of Enron International.
"We expect the power plant to be operational in early 2000," said Mark.
Enron and Li Ka-Shing
Although Enron's partner in East Java was Suharto's son, the gas supply contract points directly toward Beijing. The gas sold by Pertamina was to be produced under a contract with Mobil Madura Strait Inc. and Husky Oil Ltd. from the Madura field offshore of East Java in the Madura Strait.
Canadian-based Husky Oil is partly owned by Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing. Li is currently in business with the Chinese army and reportedly has very close links to Beijing's military intelligence.
By 1997 the Indonesian economy collapsed and Suharto was overthrown. The resulting economic mess forced Indonesia to default on its payments for the Enron power plants. These developments caused Standard & Poor's to downgrade Enron's ratings to triple "B" minus.
The Enron power project was suspended in September 1997, after the power purchase agreement had been signed and the gas contract was completed with the state-owned gas supplier Pertamina. Enron officials objected to the suspension because the final financial close on the power plant was reported to be only days away.
PLN, the state-owned Indonesian electric utility, said that the project was no longer viable because electricity demand did not justify it and the tariffs were unrealistically high.
Enron Gets World Bank Insurance Money
Despite the loss, the U.S. taxpayer, using its insurance obtained through the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, paid off Enron.
"In June of this year, MIGA paid $15 million to Enron Java Power Co. for its investment in P.T. East Java Power Corporation in Indonesia," states the 2000 official public release from the World Bank.
"The venture was one of many suspended by the presidential decree of September 20, 1997, issued in response to the country's economic crisis," noted MIGA officials.
However, after heavy World Bank pressure, the Indonesian government agreed to pay the $15 million back to MIGA. Initially the World Bank suspended further guarantees of investments in the country until the government agreed to reimburse MIGA the amount paid to Enron.
Discussions on the payout took more than a year, and the amount represented compensation for Enron's preparatory work done on the project, which was canceled before construction began. Enron reportedly paid Suharto's son Bambang the $25 million in order to lay the groundwork for the project.
U.S. Aware That Suharto's Son Involved
According to documents obtained from the U.S. Commerce Department, the Clinton administration was keenly aware that Suharto's son was being cut in on various U.S.-backed power deals including Enron's Pasuruan gas plant. In fact, the warnings of corruption came directly from the U.S. ambassador in Jakarta.
"Java Power Company has obtained a USD 1.7 billion financing package for its 2 X 610 coal fired Paiton Swasta II power plant," states a 1996 cable from then U.S. Ambassador Barry.
"Java Power Company is 50 percent owned by Siemens Power, 35 percent Powergen PLC of the UK and 15 percent by PT Bumiperitwi Tatapradipta. The latter is a subsidiary of the Bimantara Group controlled by Bambang Trihatmodjo, President Soeharto's second son."
Bambang was not only in business with Siemens and Enron but also had an exclusive multimillion-dollar power plant deal with Duke Energy Corp., a no-cut satellite contract with Hughes Space and an Indonesian government-enforced monopoly trash contract with Waste Management. Bambang's corruption is so well known that even the U.S. Federal Reserve has published information on him.
"Shareholders of the 16 insolvent banks scheduled to be closed in December in Indonesia included several members of the former Royal family, relatives of the President, the brother of an industrialist convicted of bank fraud, and the former head of the state oil company, Pertamina, who was dismissed for unauthorized borrowing of $10 billion," noted a Federal Reserve report on bank fraud.
"Bambang Trihatmodjo, second son of Suharto, the President of Indonesia, admitted that his bank had broken the legal lending limit with loans to the Chandra Asri petrochemical plant, which he and other shareholders owned. He said 'We admit we broke the legal lending limit. ... But to be fair 90 percent of other Indonesian banks did the same.'"
Enron in China
Enron also sought to break the limits. Bambang was not the only one involved in corrupt deals with Enron. Enron international deals made through the Clinton administration include construction of gas power facilities inside communist China, directly across from Taiwan, and a failed power plant in Croatia.
Enron's donations gave it exclusive access to Clinton administration support for deals inside communist China. One such project involved the direct intervention of the U.S. government with communist China to build the Songyu power plant and Liquid Natural Gas terminal located across from Taiwan.
According to U.S. Commerce Department documents, the Clinton administration successfully sought the approval of the Beijing government for the Songyu 2,000 megawatt power plant and for the Xiamen Liquid Natural Gas terminal in Fujian province.
"Project has support of City Gov't of Xiamen," states a 1999 Commerce Department advocacy document. "Support Enron and urge Chinese to approve project."
The twin gas projects inside China were worth nearly $2 billion to Enron. To the Clinton administration, however, a factor more important than money was the number of congressional districts in Texas that were involved. According to the Commerce Department document, 18 Texas districts would be involved in the Chinese project.
Enron Seeks NATO Membership for Croatia
Enron also pushed the limits inside the former Yugoslavia. Enron executives flew to Croatia with Clinton Commerce Secretary Kantor after making a $100,000 donation to the DNC just days before the visit. As a result, Enron struck a deal with the Croatian government to build a power station and run it for 20 years – at a highly inflated price of nearly $200 million above market prices.
However, tapes of the Enron negotiations with Croatian officials show the U.S. energy company had promised more than electricity at higher than normal cost. According to the Financial Times, Croatia hoped the Enron deal would secure political favors inside the Clinton administration, including a state visit to Washington and membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In one reported meeting, Enron's head of international operations, Joseph Sutton, guaranteed that Enron would lobby President Clinton for Croatia's entry into the WTO, the NATO partnership for peace program and even NATO.v Stockholders and law enforcement officials should be very interested in the payments made by the energy giant to its foreign partners and White House patrons. Clearly, with promises of NATO membership, Enron felt its donations had bought top-level White House influence.
It is little wonder that Democrats are no longer anxious to follow the Enron corruption trail. Enron's documented "corruption, collusion and nepotism" started and ended with Bill Clinton.
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