New Clinton scandal breaking - BLOODGATE
Dr. Jai Maharaj
RCMP tracks HIV-tainted prison blood
Criminal probe traces trail
of plasma from Arkansas inmates
By Mark Kennedy
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday 12 September 1998
The RCMP's criminal investigation into the tainted-blood
affair will examine how HIV-contaminated plasma was
collected from Arkansas prison inmates and shipped to
Canada by a U.S. firm with links to President Bill
Clinton.
"The RCMP is looking at all aspects of the blood
distribution system," Cpl. Gilles Moreau said yesterday.
"It's one of the many aspects."
Meanwhile, tainted-blood victims angrily said the prison
blood-collection scheme was a scandal on its own that
proved the federal government neglected its regulatory
duties to keep the blood supply pure.
They said the story lends credence to their continuing
calls for the federal and provincial governments to
compensate all tainted-blood victims, no matter when they
were infected. Durhane Wong-Rieger, past president of the
Canadian Hemophilia Society, said federal regulators were
supposed to keep an eye on imported blood products and
ensure they were not high risk. "They are responsible for
this," she said of the federal government. "They are
liable."
The tainted plasma -- used to create special blood
products for hemophiliacs -- is believed to have been
infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. As well,
it's likely the prisoners' blood was contaminated with
hepatitis C.
Mr. Clinton was governor of Arkansas when the Canadian
blood supply was contaminated in the mid-'80s. He was
generally familiar with the operations of now-defunct
Health Management Associates, the Arkansas firm that was
given a contract by Mr.Clinton's state administration to
provide medical care to prisoners.
In the process, HMA was also permitted by the state to
collect prisoners' blood and sell it elsewhere.
Mr. Clinton was a friend of HMA president Leonard Dunn,
who boasted of the friendship in 1986 to Arkansas police
who conducted a probe of the firm following allegations
it was providing poor medical care to inmates.
In the early 1980s, U.S. companies that fractionate blood
products had stopped buying prison blood because it was
widely understood that since many prisoners practised
unsafe sex or were intravenous drug users, they posed a
high risk of carrying the AIDS virus.
However, HMA found a willing buyer in Continental Pharma,
a Montreal blood broker, which in turn sold the plasma to
Toronto-based blood fractionator Connaught Laboratories.
Connaught apparently didn't realize the plasma had come
from prisoners.
Details of HMA's links to Mr. Clinton were reported
Thursday after the Citizen obtained copies of internal
reports from the Arkansas State Police dating back to the
mid-'80s.
Cpl. Moreau, spokesman for the special task force of
Mounties investigating the blood scandal, cautiously
responded to queries yesterday about the investigators'
work.
He said that, as a matter of policy, the RCMP cannot
reveal specifics about what is being investigated because
that might jeopardize the investigation.
However, Cpl. Moreau did note that Mr. Justice Horace
Krever chronicled --without mentioning Mr. Clinton --
what he knew about the prison-blood collection.
The Mounties began their criminal investigation last
February and established a toll-free number (1-888-530-
1111) that Canadians can call with tips. So far, the RCMP
investigators have interviewed more than 500 people and
have travelled to the United States, Germany and the
Netherlands.
Here at home, they have interviewed people in every
province. Some are victims and others are so-called
"witnesses" who were involved in the blood system --
either in the Red Cross or in governments --when it went
awry.
"I can assure you that we are doing everything we can --
and that is in our power -- to get to the bottom of the
blood distribution system and to look at it from the
criminal aspect," said Moreau.
The contaminated plasma collected by HMA in the early
'80s came from Cummins prison in Grady, Arkansas. As
well, HMA bought prisoners' plasma from four Louisiana
prisons and sent it to the Montreal blood broker, which
sold it to Connaught Laboratories. Connaught fractionated
it into blood products for use by hemophiliacs.
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Posted by: Impeaches (tilt...@cow-net.com) 09/13/98 05:59:14 EDT
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> To: Impeaches
Some Background Info - Leonard Dunn... the President of
the HMA responsible for selling tainted Aids infected
blood to Canadians, was also Bill Clinton's campaign
manager, and has had ties to the investigation into
Whitewater...
See....
Whitewater Banker Testifies
The Associated Press
July 11, 1996
LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Banker Herby Branscum Jr. testified
Thursday in the Whitewater trial he doesn't recall
talking to Bruce Lindsey the day Lindsey withdrew $30,000
in cash from a 1990 Clinton for Governor campaign bank
account.
Testifying for a second day, the bank's co-owner said he
could not recall discussing the withdrawal with Lindsey,
then Bill Clinton's gubernatorial campaign treasurer, or
with then-bank president Neal T. Ainley, who handled the
May 25, 1990 transaction.
"I don't recall talking to Bruce. I don't recall talking
to anyone that day about a cash withdrawal," Branscum
answered under questioning from his attorney, Dan
Guthrie. "I don't remember any mention of cash
withdrawals that day at all."
Branscum's testimony contradicted that of Ainley, who
testified for the prosecution that he handled the
transaction on orders from Branscum.
Branscum and his partner at the bank, Robert M. Hill, are
charged with conspiring to conceal from the IRS $52,500
in cash withdrawals by the Clinton campaign in 1990.
"I never discussed that with Neal," Branscum said. The
$30,000 withdrawal occurred four days before the primary
election. Branscum said he did talk by phone that morning
with Clinton campaign manager Leonard Dunn about the
likelihood Clinton would lose Perry County.
Guthrie asked if, during his conversation with Dunn,
someone may have asked him to relay a message to Lindsey
to call Ainley about the withdrawal.
"It is possible," Branscum acknowledged, "but I have
wracked by brain to try to think. I absolutely cannot
recall any mention of Bruce Lindsey that day."
Prosecutors say Lindsey, now among Clinton's top
presidential aides, conspired with the defendants to
skirt federal law requiring that cash withdrawals of $10
,000 or more be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
The campaign withdrew another $22,500 in cash just prior
to the 1990 general election.
Neither Clinton nor Lindsey are charged. On Wednesday,
Branscum testified that he did for the party long before
Clinton appointed him to the state Highway Commission in
1991 following a campaign contribution.
Prosecutors allege Branscum and Hill, funneled money from
their Perry County Bank to various candidates because
they were motivated by political ambition.
In 1991, Clinton appointed Branscum to the state Highway
Commission five weeks after Hill and an associate
delivered more than $13,000 to Clinton at the governor's
Capitol office. Prosecutors say Branscum and Hill raised
$7,000 of the money improperly by reimbursing others for
their contributions.
******
> From: Impeaches (tilt...@cow-net.com) 09/13/98 06:26:14 EDT
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> To: Impeaches
Someone had the beginnings of this within the last week
or so. It doesn't surprise me, but none the less, it is
repulsive on many levels.
> From: Boyd (emailname) 09/13/98 06:49:54 EDT
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Source - http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/t1000208.htm
Send a message to Bill Clinton to resign, visit:
http://www.flex.com/~jai/resign.html
Jai Maharaj
Latest world news at:
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Om Shanti