NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump’s interest in Pakistan seems to go deeper than just the cryptocurrency venture his aides have been found pushing for recently with Islamabad for his family firm.
It has now emerged that Gentry Beach, a hunting buddy and college friend of Donald Trump Jr, the US President’s son, visited Pakistan in Jan and later Bangladesh and Turkiye, and came back to brief Trump Sr and his close aides at Mar-a-Lago about the “amazing place called Pakistan” and a potential to cut deals worth billions of dollars in explorations of rare earth minerals, oil & gas, and real estate.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hosted him twice, first in Islamabad in Jan in the presence of his senior cabinet colleagues, including the ministers for finance and foreign affairs, and again in Dubai on Feb 11, on the sidelines of the summit of world govts.
Beach was an exceptionally unknown face among hosts of foreign dignitaries and heads of state Sharif met and posted pictures with on his official twitter handle @PakPMO.
In Bangladesh, where Beach met the country’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, a day after meeting the Pakistani PM (on Jan 29), Trump’s close associate promised Dhaka of bringing in huge FDIs in oil and gas exploration businesses and investments in aerospace, defence and real estate.
Controversy is not new to Trump Jr and his association with his buddy Beach, a Texas hedge fund manager. In 2018, The Guardian wrote how Trump Jr’s hunting buddy had helped raise millions of dollars in the 2016 campaign funding for Donald Trump. This led him to gain access to Trump’s top administration officials, including the National Security Council officials “to push a plan that could curb US sanctions in Venezuela and open up business for US companies in the oil-rich nation”.
Beach scouting for businesses in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey brings in a similar concern that was raised when the Trump aide was seeking withdrawal of sanctions for Venezuela. In both cases, there was scant regard for national security concerns when it offered lucrative deals to Trump & Co in return. It is a well-known fact that Beach’s father, Gary, was convicted in a bankruptcy fraud.
When Pakistan was busy conspiring the Pahalgam terror attack, Beach was signing a deal in Istanbul (on Apr 17) with a Turkish group Tera Holding for a joint venture to be set up in Dubai on oil and mining. In all three countries he was feted as Trump’s point person who meant business. While in Pakistan he noted the Islamic country had rare earth reserves of more than $50 trillion; to Turkey, he offered to turn the country into the next factory of the world, replacing China.
On May 15, TOI had reported how Donald Trump’s attempt to be a broker in the conflict between India and Pakistan has the spotlight on a deal the hostile neighbour recently negotiated with World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture in which the family of the US President has 60% stake.
The deal was signed between the hastily-launched Pakistan Crypto Council, which appointed early last month Changzpeng Zhao(CZ), the founder of Binance, world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, as its advisor with the ambitious objective of making Islamabad South Asia’s crypto capital.
Though the Crypto Council was barely days old, World Liberty Financial sent its heavy guns , including Zachary Witkoff son of Trump’s golf buddy Steve, to Islamabad where they were feted by Sharif and, more crucially, army chief general Asim Munir who just days later “cleared” the mass killing in Pahalgam of tourists who were segregated on the basis of their faith.
World Liberty Financial’s stakeholders include Trump's two sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr who, along with their brother-in law, Jared Kushner, have been scouring different parts for lucrative business deals and have attracted allegations of leveraging their links to the White House.
Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with
Friendship Day wishes,
messages and
quotes !