Former US President Bill Clinton earned a whopping $6 million from speaking assignments last year, most of which came from foreign sources, including India, according to financial disclosures by his wife and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Some $4.7 million out of his total honoraria of $5.7 million in 2008 came from foreign groups and firms in Kuwait, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico and Portugal, US media reports said and opined that this might create a potential conflict of interest for Hillary.
Details of the financial disclosures filed by the members of the Barack Obama administration were released by the Office of Government Ethics yesterday.
The former President received USD 150,000 from the India Today Group for a speaking event, the Associated Press reported.
The highest Clinton earned from a foreign source was 1.25 million dollars for appearing at several events sponsored Canadian motivational firm Power Within Inc.
A Hong Kong firm, Hybrid Kinetic Automotive Holdings, paid Clinton a USD 300,000 honorarium on December 4, 2008. He also got $350,000 from the state-owned National Bank of Kuwait and USD 325,000 from the Portugal-based lobbying firm Cunha Vaz and Associados.
AP also reported that one of Hillary Clinton's two deputy secretaries of state, James Steinberg, who was a professor at University of Texas, got USD 35,000 last year for foreign speaking events, including one before the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
{{/usCountry}}AP also reported that one of Hillary Clinton's two deputy secretaries of state, James Steinberg, who was a professor at University of Texas, got USD 35,000 last year for foreign speaking events, including one before the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
{{/usCountry}}