Jury issues indictment in Clinton-related uranium deal with Russia

Entrances to Tony M. Uranium Mine which used to provide uranium to the Russian owned Uranium One are locked shut on October 27, 2017 outside Ticaboo, Utah. (Photo by AFP)

A grand jury has reportedly charged a Maryland man with bribing Russian officials in a strategic deal that was authorized by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and gave Russia control over a big chunk of America’s uranium.

The 2010 deal between Russia’s Rosatom and Canadian mining company Uranium One allowed Russia to gradually take over “one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States,” according to a report by The New York Times.

Because of the strategic nature of uranium, the deal had to be signed off by several federal government agencies, including the State Department, which was run by Hillary Clinton at the time.

The US Department of Justice first announced the 11-count indictment against Mark Lambert on Thursday, accusing the “former co-president of a Maryland-based transportation company that provides services for the transportation of nuclear materials to customers in the United States and abroad” of having links to a bribery scheme involving the Uranium One deal.

In their indictment, prosecutors accused Lambert of covering up his illegal payments by using code words such as “lucky figures”, “lucky numbers” and “cake.” Lambert was accused of bribing people at TENEX, a subsidiary of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corp.

According to the Times, Canadian records showed that Uranium One chairman’s family foundation had donated a total of $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation during Russia’s gradual takeover of the mines between 2009 and 2013.

Shortly after the deal, Hillary’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, gave a speech in Russia for a hefty $500,000 paid by a Russian investment bank that promoted Uranium One stock at the time, the daily noted.

Faced with mounting pressure amid Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, Republicans have been increasingly calling for a similar probe into Clinton’s Uranium One ties.

Trump has also accused Clinton— his Democratic rival in last year’s presidential election— and the Democratic National Convention (DNC), of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to Washington-based intelligence firm Fusion GPS to put together the so-called “Russian dossier” which contains alleged evidence about him.