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.