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.