The chinese are our friends right? Is this stuff true? I wasn't paying much attention to this news back then.
CLINTON: CHINESE MONEY WAS ROUTED TO THE CLINTON CAMPAIGN
Chinese money was routed through Lippo link to the Clinton campaign
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Chinese military intelligence officers diverted illegal campaign
donations to the Clinton-Gore Re-Election Committee through a Hong
Kong bank controlled by an Indonesian family with long-standing ties
to President Clinton, authorities said.
Federal law enforcement officials, congressional investigators and
others said several hundred thousand dollars in cash went to the
campaign through several emissaries handpicked by the People's
Liberation Army (PLA).
The money, the sources said, originated in Beijing and initially was
routed by the PLA to China Resources Holding Company Ltd. in Hong
Kong. From there, it was transferred to the Hong Kong Chinese Bank --
jointly owned by the Chinese government and Lippo Group, a
multibillion-dollar Indonesian conglomerate owned by longtime Clinton
supporters Mochtar and James Riady, the sources said.
Eventually, the cash was moved to other banks, then wired to the
emissaries, who distributed it to the Clinton-Gore campaign and to
other state and federal races, the sources said.
U.S. intelligence officials believe the PLA bought into the Hong Kong
bank after Mr. Clinton's 1992 election as a way of gaining access to
the president through the Riady family, which has been a supporter of
Mr. Clinton since he was governor of Arkansas.
Johnny Chung, a California businessman who gave more than $350,000 to
the Democratic Party, has linked Democratic fund-raisers John Huang
and Charles Yah Lin Trie to the PLA fund-raising scheme in grand jury
testimony and sworn statements as part of a plea agreement in a
Justice Department probe.
Chung, an admitted bagman for Chinese intelligence, testified that his
former business partner, Liu Chao-ying, a Chinese aerospace executive
and lieutenant colonel in the PLA, told him Mr. Trie and Mr. Huang
were "directed in their fund-raising activities by the Chinese
government."
At least one House committee is investigating the leadership of China
Resources, based on preliminary information showing that top PLA
officers have assumed key positions with the firm to continue efforts
to influence U.S. policy on several issues.
Of particular concern, the sources said, is a possible connection
between China Resources and the PLA's chief military intelligence
officer, Gen. Ji Shengde, who -- according to Chung's grand jury
testimony -- ordered that $300,000 be transferred to Chung for
donations to the Democratic Party. That transfer -- first reported by
the Los Angeles Times -- took place after Chung personally met with
Gen. Ji in Hong Kong in a meeting arranged by Miss Liu.
The sources said Chung testified that Gen. Ji told him he already was
engaged in similar transactions with others serving as conduits for
Chinese money for Mr. Clinton.
The cash eventually was wired to Chung's account at the Overseas Trust
Bank in Hong Kong. He gave $35,000 to the Democratic National
Committee. The rest was moved to a separate account at a California
bank. It is not clear how it was used.
China denies using illegal campaign donations to influence the 1996
elections. In a joint press conference Thursday with Mr. Clinton,
Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji denounced the accusations.
"I think this shows that some Americans really have underestimated us.
If the political contribution were to be really that effective, I have
146 billion U.S. dollars of foreign-exchange reserve, so I should have
put out at least 10 billion U.S. dollars for that purpose, why just
$300,000?" he said. "That would be too foolish."
Mr. Zhu promised to cooperate in any probe of the accusations; similar
promises in the past have not been honored.
It is against the law for foreign governments to donate to U.S.
political campaigns.
Lippo denies any wrongdoing in its relationship with the president,
although the sources said the PLA was counting on the Riadys' ties to
Mr. Clinton for access of its own. They said the PLA knew the Riadys'
Worthen National Bank in Little Rock, Ark., had given Mr. Clinton a
multimillion-dollar loan to get through the 1992 presidential
election, and had handed over $100,000 to former Associate Attorney
General Webster L. Hubbell after he quit the Justice Department and
before he pleaded guilty to two Whitewater felonies.
Lippo sold a 15 percent interest in its Hong Kong bank to China
Resources in 1993, four days after Mr. Clinton's 1992 election
victory. By July 1992, the company had sold off half the bank to China
Resources in what U.S. authorities believe was a continuing effort by
the PLA to cash in on the Riadys' relationship with Mr. Clinton.
China Resources paid what U.S. intelligence officials said was a huge
premium over the net asset value of the bank, giving Lippo a profit of
$164 million.
A key player in the suspected plot appears to be Mr. Huang, a former
Lippo employee, Commerce Department official and Democratic National
Committee fund-raiser, who served as vice president of the Hong Kong
bank from 1985 to 1986. When Mr. Huang left Lippo to join Commerce, he
received a $780,000 bonus.
China Resources, according to the sources, was used by the Chinese
government as a cover for its spying activities. Owned by the PLA,
Chinese military intelligence officials are said to be free to
penetrate its operations for economic espionage. More recently, it has
invested in several Lippo ventures within Indonesia.
The company describes itself as a government-affiliated trading
concern supplying Hong Kong with water and food from China, but
testimony last year before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
documented that the firm was used as a front for Chinese espionage
operations. |
