A South African company in the spotlight for paying $100,000 in speaking fees to White House adviser David Plouffe is also in business with a Liberian official under U.N. sanctions for his ties to convicted war criminal and former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor.

That's among the latest details to emerge on the connections involving MTN Group, a subsidiary of which paid President Obama's former campaign manager for engagements in late 2010, shortly before he joined the White House.

The ties to Liberia's bloody Taylor era center on Benoni Urey, who was commissioner of maritime affairs in Liberia during Taylor's reign. Urey remains on the U.N. assets-freeze and travel-ban list, even though a U.N. committee last month removed more than a dozen other Taylor allies from the list.

Urey is deeply involved with an entity called PLC Investments Limited, which is MTN's business partner in Liberia. MTN confirmed the companies together own Liberia's Lonestar Cell MTN -- MTN owns 60 percent, and PLC Investments owns the rest. MTN has been in Liberia since 2006.

Before MTN got involved, the Lonestar company was suspected of being a "source of funds" for Taylor himself, according to a 2009 U.N. report.

That report also detailed Urey's involvement, saying he and another individual tied to Taylor, Emmanuel Shaw, held positions on the Lonestar board of directors. Urey's current role with PLC is a bit hazy -- according to the U.N. report, one Liberian official reported Urey and Shaw owned PLC Investments, though other documents disputed that. Still, the report showed both officials were being paid by the company, and according to FrontPageAfrica newspaper, Urey and Shaw have been confirmed as current PLC managers.

A 2005 report by the Coalition for International Justice claimed Urey helped Taylor "siphon off" money from a shipping entity to buy arms. Further, the report said he was a "primary liaison for the illegal purchase of weapons" in Liberia from infamous international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Investigations of MTN by the United Nations and others have revealed not only its connections with war criminals in Liberia, but also "collusion with the Taliban in Afghanistan and providing surveillance technology to governments keen on cracking down on dissent," in Iran and elsewhere, according to ESG Insider, a news and opinion web site on corporate governance. The firm has subsidiaries in more than 20 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

The continuing reports on MTN's shady background are sure to fuel criticisms of Plouffe, whose speaking fees from the firm were initially reported this month by The Washington Post. News reports have revealed the company's broad web of sometimes shady connections, plus MTN's efforts to distance itself from Urey. MTN officials have denied any wrongdoing in the affairs.

In a statement to FoxNews.com, MTN Corporate Affairs Director Paul Norman downplayed Urey's role.

"Mr. Urey has no involvement in the day-to-day management or running of MTN Liberia, nor does MTN have the legal authority to remove Mr. Urey from his relationship with PLC Investments," he said. "MTN has been working to ensure that all parties in this joint company operate to the high standards of ethics and governance that are expected by MTN. Given Liberia's recent history and the process of political reconciliation underway, the restructuring of MTN's interests in Liberia is a long and ongoing process."

Republican sources on Capitol Hill said Plouffe's fees and the MTN activities loom as a combustible issue in Obama's re-election campaign.

"It will be a lingering problem for Plouffe and undercuts the White House's central claim that Obama represents hope and change," said a senior House Republican aide. "This is a fly at the picnic that is not going away."

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