Who is paying for US lobby?
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo

…Jagdeo hints at fund raisers
…defends hiring firm under criminal probe

ALTHOUGH American firm, Mercury Public Affairs, is under federal probe in the investigation of Russia’s meddling in the US elections, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, said not all firms “are pristine” as he tried to explain his party’s position to hire the company at a cost of G$34M. Questions have also surfaced as to who is paying the $34M the firm demanded for its services.

Noting that the monies were handed over to the firm via bank transfer, Jagdeo told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday that the party will decide at the end of next month if it wants to renew its contract with Mercury.
He said the decision to hire Mercury Public Affairs was made at the executive level of the Peoples Progressive Party.

Questioned on the firm’s past given its implications in the federal probe, Jagdeo said he looked at the bi-partisan nature of the firm and according to him that is all he is concerned with. He admitted that not all firms in the US are “pristine” and noted if such firms violate US ethics, they are flagged.

Jagdeo then suggested that US President, Donald Trump, has been exonerated in the Robert Mueller probe as he tried to lay his case for hiring the US firm. He said key issues the firm is addressing on behalf of the PPP, is offering advice on the party’s presence in Washington as well as ensuring the PPP’s views are heard by US policymakers.

Asked if he feels comfortable with the firm offering its services to the party, Jagdeo reiterated that the matter was discussed at the executive level of the party.

“I have reviewed their work and they are a very effective firm,” he said, noting that “We are happy with the firm that we have recruited, we are happy that this firm is effective.”
Jagdeo implied that the decision to hire the firm is to counter the government’s diplomatic presence in Washington.

US federal prosecutors in recent weeks have been interviewing witnesses about the flow of foreign money to the lobbying firm.

Mercury Public Affairs was one of the groups that were recruited by Paul Manafort seven years ago to help improve the image of the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, the New York Times reported recently.

STRATEGIC SERVICES
The PPP, on March 5, 2019, signed a contract with Mercury Public Affairs. According to the contract, which was seen by this newspaper, the firm will provide strategic consulting and management services specific to issues facing the party in areas of government relations and issues management.

The services, according to contract, shall include but is not limited to, representing the party before and arranging meetings with the Executive Branch and the Congress of the United States, the Organisation of American States and think-tanks in connection with issues relating to the anticipated general and regional elections.

Additionally, according to the contract, the PPP agreed to pay the firm US$ 150,000; US$100,000 of which had to be paid at the time of the signing of the contract, and the remainder on May 1, 2019. The PPP also agreed to pay and reimburse the firm for all expenses for services provided. The party also has to pay the lobby firm for all filing fees, costs and expenses paid or incurred related to compliance requirements in any jurisdiction.
According to a Reuters report on Monday, in a sign that evidence from Robert Mueller’s 22-month investigation into alleged Russian interference in US elections may yet ensnare more prominent Washington figures, federal prosecutors in Washington cited a former U.S. congressman “working for the government of Ukraine” in charges filed on Thursday against former Obama-administration official Greg Craig.

Craig pleaded not guilty on Friday to lobbying violations and making false statements. The former congressman is not named in Craig’s indictment, but other filings by his former law firm cite identical work done for the firm by Vin Weber, a lobbyist with Mercury Public Affairs, who was a US representative from Minnesota from 1981 to 1993.

Weber disclosed his work for a Ukrainian think-tank, but he did not register as a foreign agent for the government of Ukraine under the 1938 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which would have required him to disclose his activities in detail, according to a Reuters review of lobbying records.

The Department of Justice is stepping up FARA enforcement after decades of inactivity. Mueller’s investigation has not led to criminal conspiracy charges against Trump or his former associates, but it has exposed previously-hidden foreign lobbying activity by some of Washington’s most prominent lobbyists and prompted a flurry of new registrations since 2017, Reuters reported.

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