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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Sphar who wrote (651)	8/6/1998 1:51:00 AM
From: Rick Slemmer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13994

From the Drudge report at drudgereport.com (Headline only at this time) NEW TWIST: LEWINSKY'S FATHER ALSO GRANTED IMMUNITY! It just keeps getting more and more bizarre. RS

To: Michael Sphar who wrote (651)	8/6/1998 8:35:00 AM
From: jlallen	Respond to of 13994

Mike: I don't necessarily read too much into his trip to PI and Thailand. Other than it being a nice taxpayer paid vacation trip. JLA

To: Michael Sphar who wrote (651)	8/6/1998 1:54:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 13994

I forgot to add Panetta, thanks. Clinton's had to bring in three outsiders to rescue his administration: Gergen, Morris, and Panetta.

To: Michael Sphar who wrote (651)	8/6/1998 3:06:00 PM
From: Shawn Donahue	Respond to of 13994

Mike, <<Do you remember the weeks following his reelection ? It was a simply bizarre time. First thing, he took a power trip to the two countries which have truly infamous reputations; the PI and Thailand. If you've been there you know what I mean. Now what do you suppose he needed to do there ?>>This might hold a clue or two:) By James Ring Adams........ The crux of the Indonesian money scandal isn't that foreigners were trying to buy influence in American politics. That has always been the case and will be happening more and more as decisions in Washington shape the world economy. The real scandal is that American politicians, led by Bill Clinton, were so eager to invite them in. The Indo-money affair is cut from the same cloth as the scandal of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which earlier this decade led to the bank fraud indictment of former Defense Secretary and presidential adviser Clark Clifford. (The federal and New York State case against Clifford was later dropped because of his advanced age and the acquittal of his associate Robert Altman on similar charges.) The BCCI was trying to buy hidden control of American banks to build its global empire and also to wield influence for its Arab patrons. The Riadys and their allies had in addition the motive of sheer survival. They have been investing in Bill Clinton for twelve years, and one can understand why they would disregard American campaign law in the effort to preserve their stake. Where things get shocking was in the arrogant response of the White House and the Democratic National Committee when the scandal erupted. In quantity and quality the Indo-money case dwarfs any influence-peddling scandal in memory, even for those who recall the worst of the Nixon years. When the slumbering press awoke to the story (about a year after TAS put it on our cover), it discovered that the Riadys had managed to place a former senior employee of their Lippo Group inside the Clinton administration, with extraordinary access both to the Oval Office and to Asian contributors. But John Huang, with his $4 million in DNC fund-raising and fifty visits to the White House, was a relatively small player in a network that included the richest men of South Asia. Even the Riadys were only one of several conduits in a political penetration that may have shaped human rights and trade policy and even diplomatic relations with a number of countries along the Pacific Rim, including the most sensitive one of all, the People's Republic of China. Who Are These Riadys? The first thing to understand about the Indonesian billionaire Mochtar Riady and his three sons James, Andrew, and Stephen is that they belong to the elite but vulnerable Chinese minority. Mochtar's family name was Li or Lie; although he was born in Indonesia in 1929, his ancestral home is in Fujian, China, the southern coastal province where many of the richest overseas Chinese businessmen originated. Mochtar started his career in the 1940's in a Jakarta bicycle shop. His fortunes improved drastically when he went to work in the Bank Central Asia for the godfather of the Indonesian Chinese businessmen, Liem Sioe Liong. In the '60s, with Liem's help, Riady founded his own Lippo family of financial companies, now holding $12 billion in assets. Although Riady barely turned billionaire last year, Liem, 80, has long been one of the richest men in Asia. The background of the publicity-shy Liem remains shrouded. It wasn't known for a long time whether he was born in Java or Fujian, China. (The preferred version now is Java.) His dominant role in the Chinese business clique, however, is undisputed. Known locally as the Chairman, he was a business partner and mentor of five Indonesian families (including the Riadys) who became billionaires in 1995. The Liem and Riady connections extend well beyond Jakarta. The 55 million overseas Chinese, widely considered the world's hardest working entrepreneurs, are the engine of the "Tiger Economies" of South Asia, transforming Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and even Thailand and Malaysia. In the bustle of international business deals, says one local financial writer, every key player knows all the others. Lippo is a rising power in Hong Kong, for instance, where it recently sold half of its Hong Kong Chinese Bank to a corporation controlled by the People's Republic of China. (In the mid-80's, Riady owned the bank jointly with Little Rock's Jackson Stephens.) Liem has a partnership in Hong Kong with the Malaysian-Chinese developer Robert Kuok, who was named by Peking to the local committee overseeing the transition of the territory to Chinese control. The business and family connections of the "Bamboo Network" extend from Taiwan to Thailand...... spectator.org