Does Qatar seek to buy US diplomats with briberies?
The U.S. court records recently revealed the confessions of former U.S. ambassador Richard Olson, that he was guilty of exerting secret pressure on behalf of Qatar while in service, and shortly after his retirement.
According to the Business Standard, the US ambassador was reportedly accused of accepting a generous trip to Qatar while still serving as the US envoy to Pakistan.
The charges against Olson include begging the foreign agent while he was in office, and using his political influence to further Qatari interests in Washington after he retired, the newspaper said.
In the letter from the former US ambassador’s lawyer, he said: “I want to plead guilty to the crimes charged against him, waive the trial in Central California, and drop the case in Columbia County where I’m located”.
Olson, who also served as U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was charged in federal court with violating restrictions and lobbying for a foreign country while in service and within a year after retirement, the report said.
Olson received the Presidential Service Award and the Secretary of Defense’s Exceptional Civil Service Award, and three times the State Department Award of Honor. He also lived in Virginia after his retirement and was regularly at the South Asia think tanks in Washington, where he often paid homage to Pakistan’s efforts to contain terrorism.
Former US President Barack Obama sent Olson to Pakistan in 2012, when the then ambassador, Cameron Munter, resigned after the 2011 raid in Abbottabad that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Munter was apparently not consulted prior to the raid, but relations with Pakistan were strained, and Islamabad was subsequently informed.
Olson presented his credentials to President Asif Ali Zardari on October 31, 2012, and served in Pakistan until October 27, 2015.
During his tenure, Olson reportedly used his political clout to advance Qatari interests in Washington after his retirement and courted Qataris to play that role.
The Justice Department charged the former ambassador with making false statements in moral papers and violating laws that restrict foreign pressure by former federal officials; both charges are misdemeanors.
