WASHINGTON: Former US president Bill Clinton earned nearly US$6 million (S$9 million) in speaking fees last year, almost all of it from foreign companies, according to financial documents filed by his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The documents, obtained on Tuesday, show that US$4.6 million of his reported US$5.7 million in 2008 honoraria came from foreign sources, including Kuwait's national bank, other firms and groups in Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico and Portugal as well as a Hong Kong- based company that spent US$100,000 on federal lobbying last year.
Executives at many of the firms that paid honoraria to Mr Clinton also donated large sums of money to the Clinton Foundation, according to documents it released last year as part of an agreement with Congress on Mrs Clinton's nomination as secretary of state.
All senior officials in the Obama administration must complete a detailed disclosure of their personal finances, including those of their spouse and children, which will be updated yearly.
The most Mr Clinton received from a foreign source was US$1.25 million for appearing at five events sponsored by the Toronto-based Power Within Inc, a company that puts on motivational and training programmes in North America.
For one Power Within speech alone, delivered in Edmonton last June, Mr Clinton was paid US$525,000, the most for any single event that year. For another event, he got US$200,000 and for three others he received US$175,000 each, the documents show.
Hybrid Kinetic Automotive Holdings of Hong Kong paid a US$300,000 honorarium to Mr Clinton last Dec 4. On Dec 29, a man listed as the company's chief financial officer, Mr Jack Xi Deng, made a US$25,000 cash donation to the Virginia gubernatorial campaign of Clinton confidant Terry McAuliffe, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
According to the Centre for Responsive Politics, the Hong Kong firm paid at least US$100,000 last year to lobbyists on immigration issues.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The documents, obtained on Tuesday, show that US$4.6 million of his reported US$5.7 million in 2008 honoraria came from foreign sources, including Kuwait's national bank, other firms and groups in Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico and Portugal as well as a Hong Kong- based company that spent US$100,000 on federal lobbying last year.
Executives at many of the firms that paid honoraria to Mr Clinton also donated large sums of money to the Clinton Foundation, according to documents it released last year as part of an agreement with Congress on Mrs Clinton's nomination as secretary of state.
All senior officials in the Obama administration must complete a detailed disclosure of their personal finances, including those of their spouse and children, which will be updated yearly.
The most Mr Clinton received from a foreign source was US$1.25 million for appearing at five events sponsored by the Toronto-based Power Within Inc, a company that puts on motivational and training programmes in North America.
For one Power Within speech alone, delivered in Edmonton last June, Mr Clinton was paid US$525,000, the most for any single event that year. For another event, he got US$200,000 and for three others he received US$175,000 each, the documents show.
Hybrid Kinetic Automotive Holdings of Hong Kong paid a US$300,000 honorarium to Mr Clinton last Dec 4. On Dec 29, a man listed as the company's chief financial officer, Mr Jack Xi Deng, made a US$25,000 cash donation to the Virginia gubernatorial campaign of Clinton confidant Terry McAuliffe, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
According to the Centre for Responsive Politics, the Hong Kong firm paid at least US$100,000 last year to lobbyists on immigration issues.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
