Foreign countries pay $36K for Fenty trips

WASHINGTON, March 14 (UPI) -- Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty took $36,300 from foreign governments to pay for trips to China and the United Arab Emirates, the city's attorney general says.

District of Columbia Attorney General Peter Nickles determined Fenty accepted $11,300 from Chinese officials for hotels, food, travel and other expenses for his August trip to Beijing and Shanghai for the Summer Olympics, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

The UAE government also spent $25,000 for the mayor's February trip to Dubai, during which he attended a professional women's tennis tournament, Nickles said in a statement issued to reporters.

He found that no D.C. taxpayer funds were spent on the trips, terming them "legally sufficient and in compliance with applicable law."

Fenty had criticized former mayor Anthony Williams's frequent travel within the United States and abroad while campaigning for mayor, the Post reported. Fenty hasn't traveled as often as Williams, but has increased his trips in the past year, the newspaper said.