This story is the first in a series of joint Money Trail investigations by ABC News and Yahoo News that will appear during the 2016 presidential campaign cycle.
Former President Bill Clinton and the Clinton Foundation’s Global Initiative are being hosted this week at a five-star luxury hotel in Morocco by one of the world’s most controversial mining companies, criticized for “serious human rights violations” by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice.
The Moroccan government-owned mining company OCP operates in disputed international territory in a remote part of the Sahara Desert, and the firm has been criticized for removing the resources without adequately compensating the impoverished people who live there.
“Anytime the human rights of a population are systematically suppressed in this way, it’s a serious concern, and I think it’s worthy of attention,” said David McKean, who has studied the issue for the RFK center.
OCP is paying $1 million to help host the prestigious event and throw a private cocktail reception, to the dismay of human rights activists.
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When thanking Morocco for its hospitality, the former American president heralded the country’s potential, proclaiming that it is “the Saudi Arabia of Phosphate.”
The reported $1 million donation is the latest to raise questions about the Clinton Foundation’s heavy reliance on foreign and corporate donors at a time when Hillary Clinton has launched a bid for president.
In his opening remarks, the former president dismissed the controversy over foreign donations, shrugging, “I just work here.”
Until just a few weeks ago, Hillary Clinton was listed on the foundation website as a “host” of the Moroccan event, and critics see this week’s meeting as another vehicle for well-heeled foreign interests to gain access and curry favor in Washington.
OCP officials told ABC News their motives in sponsoring the event had nothing to do with any interest in access to a presidential candidate or her famous husband.
“The Clinton Global Initiative, we share their goals,” said Talal Zouaoui, an OCP spokesman. “This is why we’re here.”
But the company has sought greater influence in Washington. Government records reviewed by Yahoo News and ABC News show that OCP has sharply accelerated its lobbying of U.S. government officials in recent years — more than quadrupling its spending — as the Moroccan government was pressing its case for sovereignty over Western Sahara, the disputed international territory where the company’s main phosphate mine is located.
The Palmeraie Palace outside Marrakesh, Morocco, is the setting for the Clinton Global Initiative Conference. (ABC News)
OCP, the records show, has paid Covington & Burling, a top Washington law firm, $1.3 million since 2012 to lobby the State Department and other federal agencies. The mining company’s CEO, Mostafa Terrab, who attended and was scheduled to speak at the Clinton Foundation event here, has also registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for Morocco to help “plan and prepare” meetings with Obama administration officials. One Moroccan government-backed entity last year also hired a firm headed by Washington lobbyist Justin Gray — putting his firm on a $25,000 a month retainer — the same month he was named a board member of the pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, Priorities USA. Gray did not respond to a request for comment for this report.
