Ca să ajungă în SUA și să aibă și întâlniri acolo (ceea ce s-a și întâmplat), Călin Popescu Tăriceanu a plătit o firmă de lobby cu 50.000 de dolari. Conform Newsweek România, „Din documentele depuse conform Foreign Agents Registration Act, reise că <clientul> va plăti către Mercury Public Affairs 50.000 de dolari, în trei tranșe: 10.000 de dolari la execția înțelegerii, 20.000 USD la 5 mai și alți 20.000 USD la 5 iunie.”
Iar Mercury Public Affairs nu este chiar cea mai inocentă companie de lobby din SUA. Potrivit Daily Beast, „Mercury (…) has capitalized effectively on its connections to Trump and other prominent Republicans. The firm has become a go-to lobbying shop for clients looking to get in the administration’s good graces. And despite its ties to figures at the center of the Mueller probe, it has continued doing business with a company owned by a Russian oligarch at the center of the Russian meddling investigation.
That oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, was accused by Mueller of funding much of the influence-peddling work that Manafort performed, which the Department of Justice alleges was done without proper registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires U.S. lobbyists and propagandists for foreign governments and political entities to disclose details of their work.
In the wake of revelations regarding Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election, the U.S. government sanctioned Deripaska and companies with which he’s associated. One of those companies is Rusal, the world’s second largest aluminum producer. And in an effort to escape those sanctions—and get back on the good side of U.S. officials—Rusal’s parent company, En+, has sought to marginalize Deripaska’s role.
As part of that effort, the company’s chairman has looked for a helping hand in Washington. And it’s turned to, none other than, Mercury Public Affairs.”
Despre interesele și afacerile lui Deripaska în România, citiți aici.