- African mining official seeks US visit; Glover Park’s new German partner lobbies for Huawei; Hungary loses New York connection; US firm lobbies for COVID-19 aid for French cargo handler
DR Congo mining chief lobbies for US visit amid corruption allegations
The head of the DR Congo’s troubled state mining company has hired a lobbyist to help him with a visit to the United States.
Gecamines boss Albert Yuma Mulindi is having a hard time scoring a visa because of his corporation’s ties to a sanctioned mining magnate. So he’s hired a former US official with decades of African experience to help get him one.
The visit comes as Yuma as under fire both at home and abroad over long-running corruption allegations. Read the story here.
Glover Park’s new German partner lobbies for Huawei
The Glover Park Group announced Tuesday that it was merging with two European firms to form Finsbury Glover Hering.
What it didn’t mention was that its German partner, Hering Schuppener, is a lobbyist for Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. Which could prove awkward for the new firm’s stated goal of creating “one firm, one team” since Glover Park itself lobbies for one of Huawei’s biggest competitors: Apple.
We have that story and the complete rundown of Huawei’s lobbying operations in the United States and the European Union right here.
Today’s filings
NEW FOREIGN LOBBYING FILINGS (FARA)
Hungary: Greenberg Traurig subcontractor Triconsultants of New York stopped working for the Embassy of Hungary on Dec. 15. The firm disclosed a $13,000 fee for service on Jan. 10 but no political activities since last year. Elizabeth Alberti, the sole registered agent on the account, had been retained in May 2019 to provide “strategic counsel” to the embassy in strengthening bilateral relations with the United States, including through outreach to New York-based influence groups.”
Greece: Washington government relations firm Manatos & Manatos disclosed receiving €137,000 ($155,000) from the government of Cyprus to cover all of 2019 and $49,000 from the Greek Embassy in Washington covering four months of work. The firm said it had conducted no political activities in the six months through May because “planned conferences, meetings and events have been postponed in the midst of COVID-19.” Firm CEO Andrew Manatos is the only registered agent on both accounts.
Turkey: The US representative for the opposition Republican People’s Party of Turkey (CHP) met with State Department senior adviser for Syria engagement Rich Outzen and senior Turkey desk officer Clare Orvis on Feb. 26, according to the office’s filing for the six months through May. Yurter Ozcan also attended the sanctions-busting trial of state-owned Halkbank in New York on Feb. 25 and met with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Feb. 27. The US office disclosed $106,800 in payments from the party during the period.
NEW DOMESTIC LOBBYING FILINGS (LDA)
Lobbying Disclosure Act
Atlantic Strategies Group of Washington registered as a lobbyist for private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management effective April 1, working as a subcontractor to Arnold & Porter. Cerberus owns Paris-based air cargo handler Worldwide Flight Services. Atlantic Strategies lobbies on the “federal government response to the COVID-19 pandemic as it affects hospitals and air carrier service providers.” Jennifer Dionne and Celes Eckerman are registered on the account.
Shearman & Sterling stopped lobbying for the Confederation of Agricultural Associations of the State of Sinaloa on May 26. The firm had been registered to lobby on trade issues for the cooperative association of Mexican growers since 2012. It last disclosed political activity in the second quarter 2019, regarding the “tomato suspension agreement being negotiated by the US Commerce Department.” The firm has reported a total of $100,000 in payments from the association over the past eight years.
The Vogel Group registered to lobby for Danieli Taranis, the US subsidiary of Italy’s Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche, a supplier of equipment and physical plants to the metal industry. Alex Vogel, the former chief counsel to ex-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, and Samir Kapadia will lobby on “issues relating to intra-company work visas for manufacturing projects in the United States.”