Lippo Group denies impropriety charges

Lippo Group denies impropriety charges

WASHINGTON (AFP): Indonesia's Lippo Group, embroiled in the
scandal over improper fund-raising for the U.S. election
campaign, broke its silence on the matter Monday, denying any
improprieties.

In a statement received here, the family-owned group with
long-standing ties to U.S. President Bill Clinton, said it was
compelled to respond to "false and malicious" reports in the U.S.
media about its activities.

According to some reports this month, a congressional draft
report linked the head of Lippo, Indonesian billionaire Mochtar
Riady, and his son James to Chinese intelligence.

The Riady family and Lippo have been the subject of numerous
reports about potentially illegal funds raised for Clinton and
his Democratic Party in 1996.

"For over one year, the Lippo Group and certain members of the
Riady family have been accused in the United States of countless
crimes, improprieties, improper motives and associations because
of a long-standing friendship with President and Mrs. Clinton,"
the statement said.

"Not wishing to entangle ourselves in American national issues
and debates, we have remained silent. However, recent reports
appearing in the United States press are so false and malicious,
we must break our silence and respond as clearly and
unambiguously as we can."

The statement said Lippo's activities "are commercial in
nature and do not involve the gathering of classified information
or other intelligence operations."

"We have never sought classified U.S. government intelligence.
We have never received any information we were told was
classified by the U.S. government. We have never passed any
information that we knew to be classified by the U.S. government
to any Chinese agency or any other person or entity," it said.

It added, "We have never funneled over or channeled money to
the United States for the purpose of contributing to or
influencing any election at the instigation of any foreign
country."

One former Lippo executive, Yuan Pei Antonio Pan, 50, has been
indicted on campaign finance violation charges, and another
Democratic fund-raiser and ex-Lippo executive, John Huang, is
under investigation.

The draft report cited was drawn up by the Senate Governmental
Affairs Committee which from July to October of last year
conducted hearings into alleged campaign fund-raising abuses by
the Democrats and influence-buying by the Chinese government.

The Riadys' relationship with Clinton dates back to 1980 when
the Lippo Group entered the banking business in Arkansas and
dispatched James Riady to Little Rock, where he befriended then
governor Clinton.