Bill Clinton’s foundation discloses donor list

WASHINGTON – Hoping to allay conflict-of-interest concerns as his wife prepares to become secretary of state, former President Bill Clinton on Thursday released a donor list that shows he has raised as much as $131 million from foreign governments – including Saudia Arabia, Dubai and Norway – for the William J. Clinton Foundation.

More than 200,000 patrons who have given nearly $500 million since the foundation’s inception in 1997 were identified by name only. The disclosure provides a window into a charity that had closely guarded the identities of its donors – countries, companies and individuals with vital, sometimes less than altruistic, interests in U.S. foreign policy.

Clinton’s foundation has focused on providing health care, particularly for people with AIDS in underdeveloped countries. It also works to promote economic growth in Africa and Latin America, combat global climate change and deal with such issues as childhood obesity in the United States.

Many of the top donors are staunch campaign supporters of Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton. They include Los Angeles entertainment mogul Haim Saban, who is a strong backer of Israel, producer Stephen Bing and Chicago billionaire Fred Eychaner.

The foundation also took in millions from foreign nationals, domestic and foreign corporations and government entities that by law could not give to the Clintons’ political campaigns. The Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office, the Sultanate of Oman, Brunei, Qatar and Kuwait are among the high-rollers who have given between $1 million and $5 million.

When Barack Obama selected Hillary Rodham Clinton, the junior senator from New York, to be his secretary of state, he made clear that the former president would have to disclose the foundation donors. In a statement issued late Thursday, the president-elect said Clinton’s disclosure “meets our goals of transparency and goes above and beyond in preventing conflicts.”

The foundation’s two biggest donors, at more than $25 million each, were the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (a London philanthropy started by hedge fund operator Chris Hohn) and UNITAID, an international drug purchase organization formed by Brazil, France, Chile, Norway and Britain to combat AIDS, malaria and other diseases in developing countries.