Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Giuliani defends business ties

|
|
 
  
Published: Dec. 9, 2007 at 9:13 PM

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor seeking the Republican presidential nomination, defended his global business ties in an interview Sunday.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Giuliani defended working with Qatar's Interior Ministry, whose officials have had close ties with terrorists such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Giuliani said his security firm helped Qatar, a U.S. ally, improve its security.

He said contentions by a CIA officer that he took money from the same accounts that protected Khalid are "just totally wrong" and "distorted."

"The relationship is not with any of those people. The relationship is with a ministry that does planning," Giuliani said.

Giuliani responded to critics who question his law firm's representation of the oil and gas company Citgo when it is controlled by leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and his business relationship with a Hong Kong billionaire with close ties to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

"When you deal with clients, and you take on the problems of clients, and you try to help them, it may be that somewhere, someplace, they did something that was questionable or arguably questionable," Giuliani said. "The things we have done with them are honorable, ethical, useful, and helpful."

Topics: Hugo Chavez, Kim Jong, Kim Jong Il, Rudy Giuliani
Recommended Stories
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 20
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visited in Washington
View Caption
Veterans etch the names of their friends inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War on May 26, 2012 in Washington, DC. More than 58,000 names of the servicemen who were killed or missing in the war are engraved on The Wall. UPI/Pat Benic
fark
Denver's solution for motorists who refuse to pull over for emergency vehicles: BASS
Never bring a pitchfork to a gunfight
Hi, I'm a stupid idiot. Please come rob me
Apparently there's no mandatory retirement age for burglars. w/classic mugshot
Dentistry in the UK needs reform. Unfortunately you can't just put an obvious tag in for the actual...
The Twins' infield is a very dusty place