Former U.S. official 'spied for Lippo'

Former U.S. official 'spied for Lippo'

WASHINGTON (AFP): The key figure in a Democratic Party campaign fundraising controversy committed economic espionage and passed classified information to Indonesia's Lippo Group, a U.S. congressman said Thursday.

In a tersely written statement, Republican Representative Gerald Solomon said he had "received reports from government sources that say there are electronic intercepts which provide evidence confirming what I suspected all along."

The reports, he said, confirmed that "John Huang committed economic espionage and breached our national security by passing classified information to his former employer, the Lippo Group." Solomon's statement concluded by saying: "I can't go any farther than that. "

Huang, a former Commerce Department official, raised US$3 million for the Democratic Party and President Bill Clinton's reelection campaign, much of which has come under question.

A congressional panel is investigating Huang for his connection to questionable donations, some from foreign contributors, and the party has returned about half the money he raised.

Solomon's office also provided a copy of a letter he wrote to FBI Director Louis Freeh in which he said Huang "apparently" had access to State Department message traffic through a Commerce Department computer network.

Solomon asked Freeh if there was a "damage assessment" under way to determine if U.S. national security was compromised.

NBC News has reported that U.S. intelligence agencies told a Senate panel the evidence against Huang was picked up by a U.S. electronics eavesdropping site targeted on trans-Pacific communications.

As deputy assistant secretary for international economic policy, Huang enjoyed top security clearance while maintaining close contact with the Lippo Group. He kept the security clearance even after leaving the Commerce Department to raise campaign money for the Democratic Party.

A Senate panel will begin hearings on shady fundraising tactics for the 1996 election campaign next month, the chair of the governmental affairs committee announced.

"We will, I assure you, get at the truth -- perhaps not all of it, but enough for the public to understand what has happened in our government," said committee chair Fred Thompson.

Thompson said the committee had sent out 160 subpoenas, including 69 for bank documents or lists of telephone calls, eight to government agencies and 31 to Buddhist groups and monks.