Bill Clinton Speech in Malaysia Irks Investors

By DON VAN NATTA Jr.
NYT

Former President Bill Clinton visited Malaysia on Friday to deliver his first paid speech since his wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, was selected Monday by President-elect Barack Obama to be secretary of state.

Mr. Clinton spoke before nearly 3,000 people in Kuala Lumpur at the invitation of Vinod Sekhar, a Malaysian businessman whose foundation paid Mr. Clinton $200,000, according to several people with knowledge of the fee. The figure is on the lower end of the scale that Mr. Clinton usually commands for his speeches.

“You should be proud of this man,” Mr. Clinton told the audience, pointing at Mr. Sekhar, the 40-year-old chief executive of the Petra Group, a privately held rubber technology company.

But several angry investors in Britain and Malaysia say they disagree with the former president’s glowing assessment of Mr. Sekhar, whose company has suffered a rough few weeks.

(More here.)