Bush State Department Charged with Cover Up of Illegal Chinese Arms Deal

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Amy Weiss

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Monday asking for assistance in the Committee's investigation of a possible cover-up of an illegal arms deal. Waxman's committee is investigating whether U.S. Embassy officials in Albania helped in a cover up when a U.S. defense contractor illegally provided ammunition manufactured in China to the government of Afghanistan as part of a US defense contract.

AEY, Inc., the arms contractor in question, has been investigated by the Department of Defense (DoD). AEY's president, 22-year-old Efraim Diveroli, was indicted Friday and charged with illegally purchasing Chinese ammunition as part of the contract.

Oversight Committee staff interviewed embassy official Major Larry Harrison on June 9. He told the Committee of a November 2007 meeting that took place between embassy officials and the Albanian Defense Minister. Harrison claimed, as well, that his own additions to the response prepared for the Committee by the State Department had been taken out, and that his name was put on the report without his approval.

According to Harrison, the meeting took place at the home of the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission, Stephen Cristina, the evening before a New York Times reporter was scheduled to tour the airport facility where the ammunition was held. Albanian Defense Minister Fatmir Meidu and U.S. Ambassador John L. Withers II, as well as other embassy officials including Harrison, attended. Meidu ordered a subordinate to remove the boxes of the Chinese ammunition from the facility before the reporter arrived the next morning -- a move Withers agreed "would alleviate the suspicion of wrongdoing," according to Harrison.

After the Times ran the story in March 2008, one American embassy official sent an e-mail to other officials saying that AEY "just made front page headlines in the New York Times - 7 pages long. No mention of Embassy involvement - thank God!"

In addition to embassy officials collaborating with the Albanian Defense Minister in the concealment of Chinese packaging, some tried to keep that collaboration secret once it was clear AEY had engaged in questionable transactions and that the Oversight Committee wanted information. Harrison pressed for describing the meeting and the ambassador's dialogue with the defense minister in the report prepared for the congressional committee, but his draft did not make it.

Harrison's attorney said he would need at least two weeks following the June 9 interview to prepare to speak to the Committee again. In the meantime, Rep. Waxman's request Monday to Secretary Rice asks for all documents pertinent to the embassy's role to be submitted by June 30 and transcriptions of interviews with several embassy and state department officials to be provided by July 11.

 

The Raw Story's take on the embassy's actions

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