Bush's business dealings probed
07/03/2002
By DAVID JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News
WASHINGTON – Aides to President Bush offered a new explanation Wednesday for his late filing of a securities statement required in a 1990 stock deal, a topic of revived interest in light of his call for corporate responsibility.
Previously, including during his 1994 run for governor, Mr. Bush said the Securities and Exchange Commission must have lost the paperwork. On Wednesday, aides attributed the delay to a mix-up between Mr. Bush and attorneys for Harken Energy Corp.
Mr. Bush was a director of the energy exploration company, based now in Houston but with former headquarters in the Dallas area.
"The president believed that all the forms were filled out properly by the attorneys and filed with the SEC, because he knew that he filed his form with the SEC," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. "And then, it turned out to be a mix-up with the attorneys where the Form 4's were not filed, and we were able to ascertain that this week."
The statement related to Mr. Bush's 1990 sale of stock in Harken, a transaction that netted him $848,560. Mr. Bush used most of the proceeds to repay a loan he had secured to buy into the Texas Rangers baseball team.
Although Mr. Bush filed his intent to sell the stock, a required additional "Form 4" did not arrive at the Securities and Exchange Commission until nearly nine months later.
The Washington-based Center for Public Integrity reported late Bush filings in connection with three earlier Harken-related transactions, between 1987 and 1989.
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