Indonesian donor should've obeyed the law: Clinton
Indonesian donor should've obeyed the law: Clinton
WASHINGTON (Reuters): Indonesian businessman James Riady, who
has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to make illegal
contributions to campaigns of President Bill Clinton and other
U.S. politicians, should have obeyed the law, Clinton said on
Friday.
A day after the announcement that Riady has decided to admit
his guilt over federal election law violations, Clinton said, "I
am not at all concerned about it. I think people should know what
our campaign finance laws are and should obey them."
The Justice Department said Riady in a 1992 limousine ride
pledged to donate US$1 million to Clinton's campaign. Clinton,
who was the Arkansas governor at the time, has said he does not
specifically recall the conversation.
Foreign corporations are barred by law from making U.S.
political campaign contributions.
Taking questions from reporters outside the White House,
Clinton said of Riady, "Well, I knew him when he was in Arkansas
and his family owned part of a bank there, and I have kept up
with him since."
LippoBank California, which is affiliated with the Lippo
Group, the Riady family conglomerate in Indonesia, also has
agreed to plead guilty to 86 misdemeanor counts charging that
Riady and former Lippo employee John Huang made illegal foreign
campaign contributions from 1988 through 1994.
Shortly after the US$1 million pledge to Clinton, from August
through October 1992, contributions made by Huang were reimbursed
with funds wired from a foreign Lippo Group entity into an
account Riady maintained at LippoBank and then distributed to
Huang in cash, the Justice Department said.
Riady has agreed to pay a record US$8.6 million in criminal
fines and to continue cooperating with government investigators,
the Justice Department said. Under the plea deal, he will be
spared from any time in prison.
Riady is scheduled to appear at a court hearing on Tuesday in
Los Angeles, where the case has been filed, a Justice Department
spokesman said. As part of the plea deal, he will surrender and
come to this country even though Indonesia has no extradition
treaty with the United States.