Paying US lobbyists to set up a meeting with BUSH.

[Jabhad]

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has denied paying US lobbyist Jack Abramoff to set up a meeting with President George W. Bush but said money did not pass through his hands.

 

The Los Angeles Times last week reported that Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to fraud and corruption charges, may have helped arrange the 2002 meeting and received 1.2 million dollars from the Malaysian government.

 

While denying that he had paid any money to Abramoff, Mahathir said that money had been paid to set up the meeting.

 

"I understood some people paid a sum of money to lobbyists in America but I do not know who these people were and it was not the Malaysian government," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

 

"I did not touch the money at all. In the US, it is a practice that if you want to meet their leader, you have to go through a lobbyist and the lobbyist has to be paid.

 

"That is their system. It is not corruption at all and it is very open, but they don't reveal names," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

 

Mahathir said the meeting was arranged by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "They said I would be able to influence (Bush) in some way regarding his policies.

 

"Secondly, it would be good for Malaysia if the relationship between the two countries improved, and I agreed with that. I thought I could do something good for the country."

 

Mahathir had been chastised by the Clinton administration for repeated anti-Semitic statements and for jailing political opponents and thought a meeting with Bush would help improve his image, the LA Times said.

 

Citing an unnamed witness, the newspaper said Abramoff had contacted presidential advisor Karl Rove on at least four occasions in a bid to arrange a meeting.

 

The White House has repeatedly denied it had any dealings with Abramoff.

 

The paper said Abramoff received 1.2 million dollars from the Malaysian government for his lobbying services in 2001 and 2002, and documents obtained by Senate investigators appeared to confirm at least 900,000 dollars of that amount, it said.

 

The White House says the meeting was arranged through normal channels.