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

To: Dwight E. Karlsen who wrote (7178)	9/27/1998 8:43:00 PM
From: Who, me?	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 13994

Some one posted something about Clinton's Skeleton Closet. Here's another one getting ready to haunt him!!! House Probes Donations to Clinton By KAREN GULLO Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- House investigators have gathered evidence suggesting that the company of a major Democratic donor reimbursed its employees for donations they made to President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. Federal law prohibits the use of corporate funds to make donations directly to candidates, and also outlaws using straw donors to disguise the real source of contributions. Investigators for the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee have gathered payroll records suggesting employees of Future Tech International, a Miami computer company headed by Mark Jimenez, received $1,000 bonus checks a few days before they wrote personal checks for the same amount to the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1995. In an affidavit obtained by The Associated Press, one former employee told the investigators that Jimenez's assistant told her that Jimenez wanted to raise $20,000 from Future Tech employees for the Clinton campaign. She was asked to make a $1,000 contribution for which she would be reimbursed. ''I agreed to make the contribution and gave a personal check in the amount of $1,000 made payable to the Clinton/Gore campaign,'' wrote Daria Haycox, a former employee, in an affidavit signed Sept. 8. ''Shortly after ... I received a bonus check from Future Tech in the amount of $1,000.'' Haycox added she testified about the matter before a grand jury in February. Neither Jimenez nor his company has been charged with any wrongdoing. A major supporter of Republican Bob Dole's 1996 campaign as well as several Democratic donors and fund-raisers already have been charged or convicted for laundering contributions in the names of others since the criminal investigation into 1996 fund-raising abuses began nearly two years ago. The House panel subpoenaed Jimenez and some of his employees, but the company executive declined to testify, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Jimenez's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, referred calls to lawyers at Future Tech. The company was closed Friday due to Hurricane Georges, but company lawyer Mitchell Fuerst, contacted at home in Miami, declined comment. Lowell has been hired to head the Democratic staff in the House Judiciary Committee's preliminary impeachment inquiry of Clinton. Nancy Luque, an attorney for the Clinton/Gore campaign, said she was unaware of the matter. Payroll records for Future Tech show that on Sept. 8, 1995, Haycox and six other employees received $1,000 bonuses. Five days later, the employees each gave the Clinton/Gore campaign a $1,000 donation, Federal Election Commission records show. Campaign records show that 22 Future Tech employees gave $1,000 each to the Clinton campaign on that same day. Jimenez and his company have contributed several hundred thousand dollars to the Democratic Party and other causes, including restoring Clinton's birthplace. Jimenez met with Clinton over coffee at the White House and played golf with him. He has said that he has asked nothing in return for his contributions. In 1997, the White House confirmed that Jimenez provided the administration with information alerting it to the possibility of a military coup in Paraguay. The United States took steps with the Organization of American States to avert the coup. Future Tech does business in Paraguay. Jimenez reportedly gave $100,000 to the DNC the day after the coup attempt began. The White House said at the time there was no link between the donation and administration policies affecting Paraguay. AP-NY-09-27-98 1934EDT newsday.com