Marcy Kaptur: “my Special Order this evening concerns the proposed acquisition of Dubai Ports World of the leasing contracts for…”

“my Special Order this evening concerns the proposed acquisition of Dubai Ports World of the leasing contracts for several major U.S. ports on the east coast. And in relation to that, I have sent letters to the Treasury Inspector General and to the committee of jurisdiction here in the House, the Government Reform Committee, asking both those entities to review any conflict of interest regarding the participation of the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow, who chairs the Committee on Foreign Investment, the group which approved the recent contract with Dubai Ports World. I will place these two letters of request in the Record. The letters ask the committee and the Inspector General to determine whether appropriate processes were followed, conflicts of interests explored, and whether or not American companies were solicited during that process. The Treasury agreement itself raises serious ethical questions regarding those directly responsible for this decision. In particular, given that Dubai Ports World acquired CSX World Terminals in 2004 for $1.15 billion, a company of which Secretary of the Treasury John Snow was chair prior to coming to the administration, and this should raise serious questions both about the acquisition of the CSX port operations and the recent awarding of this contract. As chair of the U.S. Treasury Committee on Foreign Investment, Secretary Snow and the Treasury Department had the lead authority in approving the Dubai transaction.…”