[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 121 (Monday, September 25, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10068-S10069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           VISIT OF KAZAKHSTAN PRESIDENT NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I would like to bring attention to a 
visitor the White House plans to receive this week--the President of 
Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. My colleagues in this body can be 
forgiven if they haven't heard much about his visit; there aren't going 
to be any press conferences or state dinners to welcome him. In fact, 
the Bush administration has kept very quiet about the invitation it 
extended to President Nazarbayev, who is expected to arrive later this 
week. I don't blame them for trying to downplay the visit; President 
Nazarbayev is widely acknowledged to be a corrupt dictator and someone 
who has built a record of contempt for the rule of law, the quashing of 
a nascent democracy, and the destruction of a free press. This is not 
the kind of leader who should be granted the privilege of an official 
White House visit.
  According to the State Department's most recent Human Rights Report, 
in 2005 Kazakhstan's ``human rights record remained poor. Legislation 
enacted during the year seriously eroded legal protections for human 
rights and expanded the powers of the executive branch to regulate and 
control civil society . . . [The laws that were passed] encroached on 
political rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and other 
human rights.'' The Justice Department and the FBI have accused 
President Nazarbayev--who has been in control of the country since 
1990--of corruption and reportedly considered indicting him on bribery 
and other charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Instead they 
indicted his personal financial adviser, James Giffen, while 
identifying President Nazarbayev as the recipient of tens of millions 
of dollars in payoffs of cash and gifts in an oil lease deal.
  President Bush has said that his goal is to spread democracy and the 
rule of law around the world. But this goal is hard to reconcile with 
his support for one of the world's most repressive and corrupt 
dictatorships.
  Mr. President, the Washington Post recently published an insightful 
article on this issue, which I would like to have printed in the 
Record. I hope my colleagues will have the opportunity to read it and 
will join me in calling on President Bush to cancel this visit and send 
the message that there is no room in the White House for those who have 
such disregard for democracy and the rule of law. I ask unanimous 
consent that this article be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

With Kazakh's Visit, Bush Priorities Clash--Autocrat Leads an Oil-Rich 
                                Country

                            (By Peter Baker)

       August 29, 2006.--President Bush launched an initiative 
     this month to combat international kleptocracy, the sort of 
     high-level corruption by foreign officials that he called ``a 
     grave and corrosive abuse of power'' that ``threatens our 
     national interest and violates our values.'' The plan, he 
     said, would be ``a critical component of our freedom 
     agenda.''
       Three weeks later, the White House is making arrangements 
     to host the leader of Kazakhstan, an autocrat who runs a 
     nation that is anything but free and who has been accused by 
     U.S. prosecutors of pocketing the bulk of $78 million in 
     bribes from an American businessman. Not only will President 
     Nursultan Nazarbayev visit the White House, people involved 
     say, but he also will travel to the Bush family compound in 
     Maine.
       Nazarbayev's upcoming visit, according to analysts and 
     officials, offers a case study in the competing priorities of 
     the Bush administration at a time when the president has 
     vowed to fight for democracy and against corruption around 
     the globe. Nazarbayev has banned opposition parties, 
     intimidated the press and profited from his post, according 
     to the U.S. government. But he also sits atop massive oil 
     reserves that have helped open doors in Washington.
       Nazarbayev is hardly the only controversial figure received 
     at the top levels of the Bush administration. In April, the 
     president welcomed to the Oval Office the president of 
     Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, who has been accused of rigging 
     elections. And Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hosted 
     Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the president of Equatorial Guinea, 
     who has been found to have millions of dollars stashed in 
     overseas bank accounts.
       But the Kazakh leader has received especially warm 
     treatment, given that the same government that will host him 
     next month plans to go to trial in federal court in January 
     to prove that he was paid off in the 1990s by a U.S. banker 
     seeking to influence oil rights. Although the banker faces 
     prison time, Nazarbayev has not been charged and has called 
     the allegations illegitimate.
       In addition to Nazarbayev's upcoming visit, Vice President 
     Cheney went to the former Soviet republic in May to praise 
     him as a friend, a trip that drew criticism because it came 
     the day after Cheney criticized Russia for retreating from 
     democracy. The latest invitation has sparked outrage among 
     Kazakh opposition.
       ``It raises the question of how serious is the 
     determination to fight kleptocracy,'' said Rinat Akhmetshin, 
     director of the International Eurasian Institute, who works 
     for Kazakh opposition. ``Nazarbayev is a symbol of 
     kleptocracy . . . and yet they are bringing him in. That 
     sends a very clear signal to people inside Kazakhstan who are 
     very well aware that he stole money from them.''
       The White House declined to comment because it has not yet 
     officially announced the visit, but Deputy Assistant 
     Secretary of State Evan Feigenbaum was in Kazakhstan last 
     week working out details, and Kazakh officials said the trip 
     will take place in late September. A spokesman for former 
     president George H.W. Bush confirmed that Nazarbayev will 
     visit Kennebunkport as part of his U.S. stay. ``An old friend 
     of his was in the U.S. and he extended an invitation,'' Bush 
     spokesman Tom Frechette said.
       An administration official, speaking on the condition of 
     anonymity because the invitation has not been announced, said 
     President Bush often meets with leaders of countries ``that 
     are not yet democracies'' and uses the time to push for more 
     freedom. ``We've always been frank in our discussions with 
     government officials from Kazakhstan about our concerns about 
     lack of democratic movement, and we always press them for 
     democratic reform,'' the official said.
       Kazakhstan, a vast nation of 15 million on the Central 
     Asian steppe, has emerged as an increasingly important player 
     in the world energy market. With the largest crude oil 
     reserves in the Caspian Sea region, Kazakhstan pumps 1.2 
     million barrels a day and exports 1 million of that. The 
     Kazakh government hopes to boost production to 3.5 million 
     barrels a day by 2015, rivaling Iran. U.S. and Russian 
     companies and governments have competed for access to its 
     oil.
       Nazarbayev, 66, a blast-furnace operator-turned-Communist 
     functionary, has led Kazakhstan since 1990, when it was part 
     of the Soviet Union, and has since won a series of tainted 
     elections. His government has banned or refused to register 
     opposition parties, closed newspapers and harassed advocacy 
     groups. Two opposition leaders were found dead of gunshots in 
     disputed circumstances.
       But the Bush administration considers Nazarbayev a 
     friendly, stable moderate in a region of harsher, sometimes 
     hostile dictators and has been hopeful he will open up and 
     cleanse his government. The Kazakh government under 
     Nazarbayev recently embarked on an anti-corruption campaign 
     that has resulted in arrests of mid-level officials.
       ``I really do think he has learned how to be clean,'' said 
     Martha Brill Olcott, a Kazakhstan specialist at the Carnegie 
     Endowment for International Peace. ``He has learned a lot 
     more about how you can promote to some degree divestiture [of 
     assets]. Most of his holdings are, I wouldn't say 
     transparent, but they're more so.''
       Others aren't sure. ``When the United States is 
     transparently soft on friendly dictators like Nazarbayev, it 
     undermines the effort to be tough on not-so-friendly 
     dictators,'' said Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch.
       Transparency International, an anti-corruption 
     organization, ranks Kazakhstan 2.6 on a 10-point scale, 
     placing it 107th out of 159 countries graded. That's a 
     decline from a 3.0 grade and 65th place in 2000.
       ``You don't have free elections, and the press is pretty 
     much controlled by his family, and a significant portion of 
     assets in

[[Page S10069]]

     Kazakhstan are directly or indirectly controlled by his 
     family,'' said Miklos Marschall, the group's regional 
     director. ``But on the other hand, unlike other Central Asian 
     countries, he is willing to initiate some step-by-step 
     reforms. From our perspective, he's not the worst.''
       Nazarbayev visited the Bush White House in 2001--before the 
     Justice Department filed a case in 2003 alleging that he had 
     taken bribes and before the president issued a 2004 
     proclamation banning corrupt foreign officials from visiting 
     the United States. A State Department official said hundreds 
     of foreign officials have been denied visas under Bush's 
     proclamation but could not explain how it would not apply in 
     Nazarbayev's case.
       U.S. prosecutors have charged businessman James H. Giffen 
     with steering $78 million in bribes to Nazarbayev and one of 
     his former prime ministers in the 1990s in exchange for 
     influence in oil transactions. In addition to cash 
     transferred to secret Swiss bank accounts, Nazarbayev, 
     originally identified in court papers simply as ``KO-2,'' 
     allegedly received two snowmobiles, an $80,000 speedboat, fur 
     coats for his wife and daughter, and tuition for his daughter 
     at a Swiss boarding school and later George Washington 
     University.
       Giffen's attorneys have argued that he is not guilty 
     because his actions were sanctioned by the U.S. government. 
     Giffen says he disclosed his activities to agencies including 
     the CIA and was encouraged to continue for national security 
     reasons. The Justice Department is appealing a court decision 
     allowing the defense. The case is scheduled to go to trial 
     Jan. 16.

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