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Clinton adviser intervened to help with uranium deal, ex-Kazakh official says
An adviser to former president Bill Clinton intervened in 2005 to help win Kazakh approval of a uranium mining deal benefiting a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, according to a video statement made by the former chief of Kazakhstan's state nuclear firm.
The executive, Mukhtar Dzhakishev, who was arrested last year on corruption charges that he has denied, described the deal as "a financing mechanism of the Democratic Party" and said a Clinton adviser named Tim Phillips championed it in meetings with him and other officials.
The statement is the first confirmation by a Kazakh official that a member of Clinton's staff lobbied the government on behalf of Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra, who purchased stakes in three Kazakh uranium deposits that he later sold for a huge profit.
The deal came under scrutiny in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign after the New York Times reported Giustra donated $31 million to the Clinton Foundation after he and Clinton visited Kazakhstan in September 2005. Critics accused Clinton of improperly using his influence and lending his prestige to an authoritarian government to help a donor.