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.