Thai businesswoman visited White House 26 times

Thai businesswoman visited White House 26 times

WASHINGTON (AFP): A Thai businesswoman visited the White House 26 times since President Bill Clinton came to power and at one coffee with the president gave the Democratic Party $85,000, The Washington Post said yesterday.

The visits, disclosed in documents sent by the White House to the Chairman of the House Committee on International Relations, adds another twist to the ever-widening scandal of improper donations to the Democratic National Council (DNC) which financed Clinton's election campaign.

Pauline Kanchanalak, a Thai businesswoman with legal residence in the United States and a major donor to the DNC, arranged a coffee at the White House on June 18 with five Thai business associates, after which she gave $85,000 with a post-dated check.

The DNC last month returned a total of $253,000 donated by Kanchanalak, after she admitted that the money was actually given by her mother-in-law Praitun Kanchanalak. Federal election law prohibits making donations in the name of another.

Also after the White House coffee, at which U.S. policy in China was discussed according to one of the participants, Kanchanalak sister-in-law Duangnet Kronenberg made a separate contribution to the DNC of $50,000, the daily said.

The apparent link between the two donations and the coffee could spell trouble for the Clinton administration since fund- raising activities are not allowed inside the White House.

And throughout the probe into donations by foreign nationals and companies to the DNC -- which are also illegal -- opposition lawmakers have asked whether Clinton's foreign policy was influenced by personal contacts with such large contributors. Clinton has steadfastly denied the allegation.

White House counsel Lanny Davis told the Post that to the best of his knowledge, "no funds were solicited by anyone in the White House at White House events" and that "no governmental action resulted from any campaign contribution to the president's campaign or to the DNC."

The documents given Republican Representative Benjamin Gilman show that Kanchanalak visited the White House 26 times since Clinton was first elected in 1992.

Kanchanalak's associates at the June 18 coffee were identified by the daily as three top officials of the Charoen Pokphand Group, Thailand's largest multinational corporation, and two officials of the U.S.-Thai Business Council.

Also attending the event were DNC Chairman Donald Fowler, finance chairman Marvin Rosen and DNC fundraiser John Huang.

Huang, who according to the daily had ties with Kanchanalak, was responsible for encouraging contributions in the Asian American community. He was dismissed and much of the money he raised was returned after the fund-raising scandal broke in August.