MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is a wonder. Each show, Maddow has reached right into the heart of a vital Republican issue and pulls it out for all of her viewers to see clearly. Now, she has discovered the link between Donald Trump’s New York City real estate investments and the dictator of Kazakhstan’s criminal mining activity.
First, Maddow explained what the dictator, President Nursultan Nazarbaye, was mining. The mined material is used to make stainless steel, and it is called chromite (chromium atomic number 24). Although it is very important to the U.S., the show’s (TRMS) host said mining is “very, very toxic:”
‘This is chromium, atomic number 24. You need chromium to make stainless steel, it’s a useful, necessary thing in modern life. Mining and processing it, though, tend to be very, very toxic enterprises.’
Then, she took us into those mines and showed us how awful they are:
‘Mark Champion at Bloomberg News just did a report on how toxic and dire the conditions are at that facility, but he also got the simple sad story of the finances of that place, and how the finances of that place — that produces a third of the chromium in the world — ended up connected to the President of the United States.’
Maddow said that after the Soviet Union broke apart, the government of Kazakhstan forced the workers in an employee-owned company, called Aktyubinsk Chromium Chemicals Plant (AZXS), to sell their shares. The company that bought AZXS was located in the British Virgin Islands:
‘The entity on the other end of that forced transaction, the entity to which they were forced to sell their shares, was like a random no-name company registered in the British Virgin Islands?’
She pointed out that the British Virgin Islands are home to companies that want to “avoid taxes and stay anonymous:”
‘When you look at the pictures of this bleak, land-locked central Asian producing chromium for the world, British Virgin Islands? Really? Nothing against the British Virgin Islands, but international companies will often headquarter themselves there in-name-only as a scheme to avoid taxes and stay anonymous.’
In other words, Kazakhstan stole the mine from its employees:
‘The people working at this chromium company were basically robbed of equity. They used to be employee owners, they used to have shares. They work in dire toxic conditions and efforts have been made, through the banking system, to obscure who really owns that place, who is reaping the financial rewards from that giant now that the people that work there aren’t.
‘These guys were so corrupt they embarrassed the stock market.’
Then, Maddow took us down the money trail. The Kazakhstan dictator’s son-in-law controlled the bank that handled the sale of the mining company. She said that if there are any “big obvious money laundering schemes,” it involved that man:
‘Specifically, the dictator of Kazakhstan put his son-in-law in control of that bank, which means if there is any problematic surviving evidence or participation in the big obvious money laundering schemes, if there is potential criminal liability for different dealings figures records of those transactions … they would be in the office safe of the son-in-law of the dictator of Kazakhstan.’
In a final punch, Rachel Maddow announced that Donald Trump invited someone special to the White House – the dictator of Kazakhstan. Now, why would this dictator find favor with Trump? Maddow continued:
‘Guess who is coming to the White House tomorrow, invited to meet President Trump. The dictator of Kazakhstan. Really? Of all the dictators of the world…’
The White House announced:
‘President Donald J. Trump will welcome President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan to the White House on January 16, 2018. President Trump and President Nazarbayev will discuss ways to strengthen and enhance our strategic partnership on regional security issues and economic cooperation.’
Thank you, Rachel. Check out her report on this story in this TRMS video below:
https://youtu.be/LH7HT_ePPUM
Featured Image via YouTube Screen Grab.
