Port Deal Pushed by Menendez Could Benefit Former Aide, Not Just a Major Donor
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Version 0 of 1. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — It turns out that the lucrative port security contract pushed by Senator Robert Menendez would enrich more than just a major benefactor. The contract could also benefit one of the senator’s former top aides, people connected to the deal said. Mr. Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, has pushed United States government officials to help enforce a contract that a company owned in part by one of his major donors, Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, has with the Dominican government, which has refused to honor it. A top executive at Dr. Melgen’s security company will be Pedro Pablo Permuy, a former national security adviser and senior legislative aide to Mr. Menendez, according to a cousin of Dr. Melgen. Mr. Permuy’s ties to the senator go back at least 20 years. Mr. Permuy did not respond to requests for interviews on Monday, but said in an e-mail that he was neither a board member nor an employee of the border security company. Dr. Melgen’s cousin, a lawyer named Vinicio Castillo Semán, held a news conference on Monday in Santo Domingo to defend the doctor and the senator and to argue for enforcement of the contract to provide extensive screening of cargo from ports in the Dominican Republic. Some Dominican business interests have opposed the deal, saying, among other criticisms, that Dr. Melgen lacks a background in port security and is trying to use his influence with Mr. Menendez to encourage the Dominican government to enforce the deal. “Dr. Melgen was criticized for not knowing anything about security,” Mr. Castillo said. “He went out and looked for people. He is being advised by people who do have to do with security, people like Permuy, who was vice minister of defense for Latin America.” Pressed on Mr. Permuy’s role, Mr. Castillo said Mr. Permuy “will run the operations.” A second person involved in the company, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying he did not want to compromise negotiations, also described Mr. Permuy’s role as integral. Mr. Permuy was deputy assistant secretary of defense for inter-American affairs during the Clinton administration. He worked for Mr. Menendez as a senior legislative aide from 1993 to 1995 and then as his national security adviser from 2001 to 2003. In 2010, he and Dr. Melgen held a fund-raising dinner in Maryland for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Mr. Menendez was then leading. Dr. Melgen was an important fund-raiser for the senator in his committee efforts that year. Tricia Enright, a spokeswoman for Mr. Menendez, said the senator had no knowledge of Mr. Permuy’s involvement in Dr. Melgen’s company until The New York Times raised a question on Monday. “The first he heard of Pedro’s involvement was today,” she said. Mr. Permuy’s LinkedIn profile shows that he helped write the senator’s homeland security legislation. The relationship between Mr. Menendez and Dr. Melgen is under scrutiny as the senator prepares to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Menendez has acknowledged accepting free flights from Dr. Melgen in 2010, and recently reimbursed the doctor $58,000, saying he had failed to do so before because of sloppy paperwork. Aides to Mr. Menendez acknowledge that he pushed for the contract for Dr. Melgen’s company, but characterized it as nothing unusual, saying he regularly advocated for the interest of American companies abroad. The contract was originally written for a different company, which Dr. Melgen bought. His offices in Florida were raided last week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in what appeared to be an inquiry related to Medicare fraud. |