Debt Vultures in Liberia (Greg Palast)
Greg Palast continues to follow the story of debt vultures who “buy up the loans of poor governments, wait for them to win debt relief from the international community, and then use courts to pursue the countries for assets,” for BBC TV Newsnight and an article in the Guardian. Palast wrote about debt vultures for D&S back in 2007 (George Bush’s Favorite Vultures). Here’s an excerpt from the Guardian article:
Liberian leader urges MPs to back action against vulture funds
Liberia’s president calls on MPs to support bill that would bar vulture funds from pursuing debts of poorer nations in UK courts.
Heather Stewart and Greg Palast | Thursday, February 25, 2010
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, is urging MPs to back a bill banning vulture funds from using British courts to prey on poor countries when it comes to a vote on Friday .
Liberia lost a $20m (£13m) case in London last year against two so-called vultures. Such funds buy up the loans of poor governments, wait for them to win debt relief from the international community, and then use courts to pursue the countries for assets.
Sirleaf said: “We’ve been waiting for a parliament or an assembly to take this kind of hard decision. I hope the US Congress and maybe some others in Europe will pick up this gauntlet and will follow the example of Britain.”
An investigation for BBC’s Newsnight, to be broadcast tonight, has uncovered allegations that speculators subverted the international debt relief process for Liberia, in an attempt to gain more money from its government and international donors than 97% of its other creditors accepted.
Liberia received debt relief worth $4bn from the international community in 2007 under the heavily indebted poor countries initiative, including $2bn from private-sector bondholders. Insiders to negotiations allege that two US financiers, Eric Hermann and Michael Straus, allowed other creditors to accept a low payout from Liberia, then quietly transferred their holdings to two other firms, which then sued in Britain for the debt in full.
Read the full article.
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March 5, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Check out Greg Palast at Left Forum 2010! March 19-21 in New York City. With Noam Chomsky, Jesse Jackson, The Yes Men, Frances Fox Piven, David Harvey, and many more! http://www.leftforum.org