James Traficant: “I want to talk about a different aspect. After encouragement from the White House themselves, a company in my district…”

“I want to talk about a different aspect. After encouragement from the White House themselves, a company in my district, Buchite International, is the only American company to agree to be a model company for investment in Gaza. Mr. Chairman, they have been ripped off big time, and we cannot allow this to happen. In their dealings with the Cairo Amman Bank of Gaza, the corporate accounts were opened without proper documentation. Corporate checks denominated in dollars were endorsed and cashed by individuals without first being deposited into the account. Canceled checks were not returned. Corporate funds in excess of $100,000 were used to guarantee an overdraft facility of a private individual without authorization. The company had no knowledge or approval of this. A letter of guarantee was written by a bank without notifying the company, in strict violation of company instructions. Four point four million was invested, forcing them to default on a $2 million loan. Tomorrow I will be bringing an amendment and there may be some technicalities to that amendment. I want the Congress to allow that amendment to go forward because the PLO and Palestinian authorities cannot rip off American companies. We cannot tolerate that. Vote your conscience on any of these amendments.”