In 1989, Jeb Bush paid a visit to Nigeria. As the son of a sitting president, he was greeted like royalty, with tens of thousands of Nigerians lining the streets to welcome Bush to their nation. But as Mother Jones reporter Stephanie Mencimer notes, Jeb wasn’t there to engage in diplomacy. Instead, he was hawking an industrial water pump to government officials in Nigeria. It turned into a complicated business deal worth around $80 million (give or take, depending on who’s reporting) that we’ve mentioned before.
But Mencimer brings a fresh eye to documenting the entire ordeal, which resulted in a Justice Department investigation and charges of fraud being brought against the water pump company, MWI Corp. Though Bush was never implicated in the investigation (only his business partners were), Mencimer concludes that the whole sordid episode does indict Bush’s judgment even if his dealings weren’t criminal in nature.
Bush lent his name—and that of his prominent family—to an enterprise with hazards that should have been obvious. Nigeria, then as now, was infamous for its corruption that was virtually inescapable for anyone attempting to do business there. And according to the Justice Department and testimony in the trial, the company Bush was promoting sold overpriced agricultural equipment to an impoverished nation whose people often couldn’t use it. In the process, the deal put the already indebted nation further into hock to foreign creditors.Bush did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but as he prepares to announce his bid for the presidency, questions still linger about the exact part he played in a deal that the Justice Department said took advantage of both the Nigerian people and American taxpayers.
Bush was 36 years old at the time he initiated this deal—old enough to know right from wrong and to have some sense of whether he was using his privileged perch as the son of a president to manipulate the system. If he didn’t cross that line, it sure sounds like he straddled it. If you would like to read the entirety of Mencimer’s piece
FRENCH VERSION
Mais Mencimer apporte un regard neuf à documenter l’épreuveentière, qui a entraîné une enquête du ministère de la Justice etdes accusations de fraude déposées contre la compagnie depompe à eau, MWI Corp. Bien que Bush n’a été jamais impliquéedans l’étude (ont observé seulement ses partenairescommerciaux), Mencimer conclut que l’épisode entier sordideinculper arrêt de Bush, même si ses rapports ne sont pas denature criminelle.
Bush a laissé son nom — et celle de sa famille — à une entrepriseavec les dangers qui aurait dû être évident. Nigéria, puisaujourd’hui comme hier, est tristement célèbre pour sacorruption qui a été pratiquement incontournable pourquiconque tenterait de faire des affaires là. Et selon le ministèrede la Justice et le témoignage dans le procès, la société que Bushfaisait la promotion a vendu hors de prix de matériel agricole àune nation pauvre dont les gens souvent ne pouvait pas l’utiliser.Dans le processus, l’affaire a mis la nation déjà endettéedavantage en jarret aux créanciers étrangers.
Bush avait 36 ans au moment où il a lancé cette affaire — assezvieux pour savoir bien du mal et pour avoir une idée de si ilutilisait son perchoir privilégié comme le fils d’un président pourmanipuler le système. Si il n’a pas franchir la ligne, il sonne bien sûr comme il chevauchait il. Si vous souhaitez lire l’intégralité del’ouvrage de Mencimer
