- Neil Bush, the younger brother of President George W
Bush, was promised $2 million (1.2 million) in a business deal with a firm
backed by the son of a former Chinese president, it emerged yesterday.
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- In a deposition that could prove embarrassing to the
White House, Mr Bush shed light on the usually closed and frequently lucrative
world of deal-making in China.
- Neil Bush with his daughters, Lauren and Ashley, and
former wife Sharon
- He also admitted a series of sexual adventures while
on trips to Thailand and Hong Kong.
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- The details of business deals and his complicated private
life were recorded in March, when Mr Bush was questioned by divorce lawyers
for his now ex-wife Sharon. They were divorced in April but the legal wrangling
continues and the papers were made public yesterday.
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- Mr Bush, 48, was questioned about a contract with Grace
Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, a firm backed by Jiang Mianheng,
the son of former President Jiang Zemin, that would pay him $2 million
in stock over five years.
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- Marshall Davis Brown, Mrs Bush's lawyer, asked Mr Bush
why the firm would want his services and at such a price given he had no
expertise in the semiconductor business.
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- "You have absolutely no educational background in
semiconductors do you?" he asked.
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- "That's correct," Mr Bush replied.
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- "And you have absolutely, over the last 10, 15,
20 years, not a lot of demonstrable business experience that would bring
about a company investing $2 million in you?"
- "I personally would object to the assumption that
they're investing $2 million in me," said Mr Bush, who went on to
say that he was an experienced businessman and had worked in Asia for many
years.
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- Mr Bush said he had not yet received any stock from Grace,
whose deal was signed in August 2002. He said he is meant to consult for
the company and be on the board of directors.
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- The details will compound Mr Bush's reputation for using
his family's name to gain backing for his businesses and also further his
record as the family's prime source of potential embarrassment for his
elder brother in the Oval Office.
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- The third of five children of former President George
Bush and his wife, Barbara, he was linked to a business controversy in
1988 when he was director of Silverado Savings and Loan, a Colorado bank
that collapsed at a cost to taxpayers of $1 billion.
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- Over the past few years he has travelled widely to the
Middle East and Asia, two regions where his father has considerable connections
and influence. He says he makes courtesy visits and denies that he is seeking
investors for his firm.
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- In December 2001 President Jiang threw a private dinner
for him in Beijing. One witness said that Mr Jiang even serenaded him with
a military song.
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- Mr Bush and his wife divorced in April after a 23-year
marriage but the wrangling continues.
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- Mr Bush admitted in his deposition that he had slept
with other women on trips to Asia. The women, he said, knocked on his door
and entered. He said he did not know if they were prostitutes because they
did not ask for money.
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- He said he joined the board of Grace at the request of
Winston Wang, a co-founder of the firm, who, he said, is an investor in
his educational software business in Austin, Texas. Mr Bush never mentioned
Jiang Mianheng.
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- He was also questioned about other well-paid business
ventures. He said he was co-chairman of Crest Investment Corporation, and
that for working an average of three to four hours a week, he received
$15,000 every three months.
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- He said he provided "miscellaneous consulting services"
for Crest.
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- "Such as?" asked Mr Brown.
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- "Such as answering phone calls when Jamail Daniel,
the other co-chairman, called and asked for advice," Mr Bush said.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/27/wneil27.xm
l&sSheet=/portal/2003/11/27/ixportaltop.html
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