Getting into the System
Hotel magnate Sant Singh Chatwal, 70, (on the right of the photo) loves to mingle with politicians and is particularly close to Bill and Hillary Clinton. They even attended his son Vikram’s wedding in 2006. And perhaps, if he’s lucky, they’ll visit him in prison—though he might have to pay them to do so.
Chatwal, who was honored with India’s Padma Bhushan in 2010, faces up to 25 years in the slammer after pleading guilty recently to funneling $180,000 in campaign funds through straw donors and illegally supporting three candidates, including Hillary Clinton.
In a secretly recorded conversation, Chatwal told a federal informant the importance of giving money to politicians. “Without that nobody will even talk to you. When they are in need of money… the money you give then they are always for you. That’s the only way to buy them, get into the system.”
Now he needs to use his money to get out of the system: the prison system.
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