Gingrich calls for probe into RI campaign money

Gingrich calls for probe into RI campaign money

WASHINGTON (Reuter): House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich on Thursday called for an investigation into whether the Indonesian government won U.S. foreign policy favors in return for contributions to the Democratic Party.

Gingrich said reports that an Indonesian couple with ties to the financial conglomerate Lippo Group made a $425,000 donation to the Democratics raised questions of the extent of foreign influence in U.S. politics.

"One would prefer not to have non-Americans buying their way into American politics," the Georgia Republican said at a news conference.

Gingrich also called for postponement of U.S. sales of F-16 jets to Indonesia pending the investigation, but that is a step the White House has already taken as a result of allegations of Jakarta's crackdown against its critics.

The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call meanwhile reported a review of federal election data that more than two dozen members of Congress, mainly Democrats, received donations from individuals associated with the Lippo Group from 1988 to 1996.

These beneficiaries also included Republican presidential challenger Bob Dole, who during his 1988 run for president accepted $1,000 from Aileen Riady, the wife of James Riady, whose father, Mochtar Riady, founded the Lippo Group, the paper said.

Gingrich condemned the Clinton re-election campaign for reportedly accepting $425,000 from Arief and Soraya Wiriadinata. Soraya Wiriadinata's father was in business with Mochtar Riady.

Gingrich called for a congressional review next year of U.S. policy toward Indonesia's President Soeharto government and said he will ask several House committees to examine foreign policy, banking, ethics and political campaign issues.

"We need to know to what extent the information we were being given by this administration was tainted by Indonesian interests and tainted by the Riadys and the Lippo Group," he said.

Gingrich said he will ask Nobel peace prize winners, East Timor Bishop Carlos Belo and exiled East Timor separatist leader Jose Ramos Horta to testify on whether the White House hampered their efforts to gain independence from Indonesia for East Timor.

"There's no question in my mind that we should postpone any actions towards Indonesia until we've had a chance to review this," Gingrich said.

The Clinton administration has said President Soeharto government did not receive favorable treatment.

"Contrary to whatever the innuendo is, we moved very aggressively toward Indonesia and have had a very tough policy toward them in many areas," a senior official told Reuters Wednesday.

The Clinton campaign has said the Wiriadinatas' donations were legal as they were legal foreign residents of the United States.

But Gingrich said campaign finance laws should be tightened to limit contributions to U.S. citizens only.

And, Gingrich questioned the legality of a reported contribution of $250,000 to the Clinton campaign by a South Korean company. The Democratic National Committee returned the money after it was found that it had not come from the firm's U.S. subsidiary.