Clinton Foundation might see Indian operations suffer if Hillary is elected

Allegations of providing quid pro quo favours to donors of the Foundation have emerged

The Clinton Foundation's work in India could be affected by the controversy it has been recently embroiled in, the Times of India reported on Monday.

According to the report, the Foundation, which works in areas such as enabling access to low-cost medicine for the poor to helping small farmers access global markets, has been on the defensive in the US as allegations of providing quid pro quo favours to donors have emerged.

Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that recently released emails from the State Department showed that there might have been "overlapping interests" between the Foundation and the State Department during Hillary Clinton's tenure as US secretary of state.

According to the report, Clinton – who leads Donald Trump in polls for the White House – has previously faced similar charges that her non-profit Foundation had provided donors with access to and influence in the State Department.

Amid the controversy, the Washington Post reported last week that the Foundation had announced that if Clinton was elected as President, it would cease to accept donations from corporations and foreign entities.

According to the American Daily's analysis of the foundation's donations, more than half of its major donors would not be able to donate to the charity under the new rules.

The Foundation has been involved in various initiatives in India. In 2004, the Indian government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the charity organisation to scale up HIV care and treatment. In 2005, the Foundation announced that the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and India's National AIDS Control Organisation would train 150,000 private sector doctors in the country in HIV/AIDS care and treatment over the following year. The Foundation also collaborated with drug-maker Cipla and other pharmaceutical companies to provide cheaper medication to treat HIV/AIDS. Beyond combating AIDS in the country, the Foundation has also been involved in initiatives helping small-croppers and dealing with nutrition for schoolchildren.

According to the ToI report, some Indians and Indian-origin persons have also been donors to the organisation in the past.  

Citing a donors list released by the Foundation a few months ago, the report says that there were at least three persons of Indian origin who contributed more than $1 million to the foundation: Mala Gaonkar Haarman, who is a Boston-based co-portfolio manager at investment firm Lone Pine Capital and a trustee of the Clinton Health Access Initiative; Dave Katragadda, who is a petroleum engineer from California and the Chairman of the US-Asia Business Forum; and Lakshmi Mittal, the chairman and CEO of global steel-giant ArcelorMittal

Further, according to the report, even the Confederation of Indian Industry has been listed as a donor, having given between $500,000 to $1 million.

With the elections in the US slated for November, the fresh controversy has resulted in the Clintons announcing that a victory at the hustings would mean that they would disassociate themselves with the Foundation.