Taxpayer-supported international racketeering

By Charles Smith

American campaign fund-raising has always been more of an art
than a science. However, in 1996 the Democratic Party turned
the political act of soliciting money into a criminal
money-laundering scheme using federal facilities and funding.
One such operation included Ron Brown and the U.S. Commerce
Department.

In August 1994, Brown led a trade mission to China and Hong
Kong. The mission included major million-dollar donors such as
Bernard Schwartz and Sanford Robertson. Robertson admitted to
the New York Post that he was invited solely because he
supported Clinton with campaign money. The Post article was
discovered in the files of Ron Brown.

Other big donors were also invited to China. They also cut
million-dollar deals and then sliced a percentage off for the
DNC. Another news article kept by Ron Brown in his files listed
Enron, Mission Energy, California Energy, Hughes, AT&T, Federal
Express, Sprint and Chrysler as donating money to the DNC.

Yet, taking money from U.S.-based companies was simply not
enough for the DNC and Bill Clinton. One document, obtained
from the U.S. Commerce Department using the Freedom of
Information Act, is the attendance list for a 1994 trade event
sponsored by Counsel General Richard W. Mueller. The event was
a dinner held in honor of Ron Brown at the “Peak” hotel in Hong
Kong.

Attendees at the posh reception included DNC donors Robertson
and Schwartz along with a host of other U.S. corporate
executives. The DNC, of course, was also included with Loren
Keith Stanton, the “vice chairman/Democrats Abroad,” making the
rounds among the rich and famous.

The dinner at the “Peak” for Ron Brown also included the bankers
for the Chinese Army. Top on the list was Robert Adams, the
governor of the American Chamber of Commerce and then the
executive director of China International Trust and Investment
Corporation (CITIC). CITIC is the bank of the People’s
Liberation Army, providing financing for Chinese Army weapons
sales and western technology purchases. CITIC serves as the
chief investment arm of China’s central government and holds
ministry status on the Chinese State Council.

In February 1996, Brown arranged for the chairman of CITIC, Wang
Jun, to meet President Clinton. Wang Jun was not only chairman
of CITIC but also president of Poly Technologies, a firm known
to be an outlet for Chinese weapon exports. Wang Jun met with
Ron Brown and DNC fundraiser Charlie “Yah-Lin” Trie prior to
having coffee with Bill Clinton. Of course, coffee at the White
House included a donation to the DNC.

Yet, earlier in August of 1994, Charlie Trie also traveled to
Beijing with Ron Brown. Trie may not have made the invitation
list to the “Peak” in Hong Kong but, according to then-Commerce
General Counsel Ginger Lew, Trie attended high-level meetings
during the August 1994 trade mission to Beijing. Trie is not
listed as being invited nor listed as traveling with Brown.
Yet, Ms. Lew, who did attend as part of the official U.S.
delegation, testified that she saw Charlie Trie in Beijing.

Another U.S. Commerce economic event pushed heavily as a DNC
fund-raising scheme was the 1994 Asia Pacific Economic
Conference (APEC) in Jakarta, Indonesia. In late 1994,
President Clinton and Ron Brown traveled to Jakarta and warmly
embraced Indonesian dictator Suharto. Clinton’s APEC embrace
included a nice pay-off for both him and Suharto, called the
Paiton power project, a Lippo-sponsored coal burning electric
plant in east Java.

The Paiton power deal included lucrative contracts, backed by
American taxpayer financed loans, for Mission Energy, another
big Clinton donor. Mission Energy, is also a partner of
Indonesia’s Lippo group, a consortium part owned by billionaire
Moctar Riady.

In 1998 the U.S. Commerce Department returned two copies of the
same APEC advocacy report, obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act. The first copy was heavily blacked out and
withheld. The second copy was not. The un-blacked out version
of the 1994 APEC Commerce Department advocacy report states the
Indonesian Paiton project encountered difficulties with
financing because the Asian Development Bank (ADB) knew it
contained a Suharto family kickback. According to the U.S.
Commerce advocacy document, Suharto’s son-in-law was known to be
a Paiton shareholder.

“Ambassador Barry stated that the project is facing two
problems,” noted Commerce officials on the Paiton project status
document dated, Nov. 1, 1994. “(i) the ADB financing may
cave in and (ii) EXIM financing. Regarding ADB, technical
questions have been satisfied, but ADB is skiddish (sic) about
involvement of Indonesia’s first family (a minority shareholder
is married to Pres. Suharto’s daughter).”

However, taking bribes are the least of Suharto’s in-law
troubles. According to the Indonesian government, the
son-in-law of former dictator Suharto, lieutenant general
Prabowo Subianto, recently admitted that his special forces
(Kostrad) unit played a role in the abduction of political
activists in late 1997 and early in 1998. So far only a
fraction of the kidnapped dissidents have shown up alive. Under
questioning by a Military Honor Council investigating the
kidnappings, General Prabowo conceded he “wrongly analyzed
orders” regarding troop procedure.

In addition, the released Paiton document raises the question of
why the Commerce Department would withhold (black out) the
report in 1998. The criminal actions in 1994 were covered up in
1998 by the Commerce Department under the legal guise of
“privacy” and “commercial” data. There are no valid reasons
under the Freedom of Information Act that would allow exceptions
for privacy or business reasons on a kickback to a foreign
dictator. The Commerce Department is continuing to cover up
crimes in further violation of the law.

However, limitations — legal or not — were not a DNC agenda
item. Brown and Clinton did not limit themselves to just deals
with dictators and generals in the Indonesian army during the
APEC 1994 conference. The official Commerce APEC advocacy
report reads like an all-time hit list of the greatest DNC
money-bags. Two of the honored (charged and convicted)
attendees were Gene and Nora Lum from Dynamic Energy Resources.
Mr. and Mrs. Lum were convicted along with Ron Brown’s son,
Michael, for illegal campaign contributions, and are currently
facing tax evasion charges.

Another attendee was Pauline Kanchanalak from Ban Chang
International. John Huang solicited Kanchanalak, a business
consultant from Thailand and a legal resident of the United
States for donations. The DNC returned all of $253,000 she
contributed because they thought that the money came from
outside the United States.

Another 1994 APEC attendee was (again) Charlie “Yah-Lin” Trie
from Diahatsu International Trading. Trie’s old connections
with Clinton and his friends inside the Chinese army also
allowed him to travel frequently to Brown-sponsored events,
including the August 1994 trade trip to China and the 1994 APEC
Indonesia conference. For the APEC 1994 conference Charlie Trie
also had a well-known Clinton supporter (and big dollar
contributor) as his sponsor, DNC Arkansas fund-raiser Martha
Shoffner.

Other big DNC contributors invited to APEC 1994 include Mike
Armstrong from GM Hughes, Gary Tooker of Motorola, Richard
Bertsch from Metrosound, Noel Gould lawyer and vice president of
Samsonite Luggage, Richard Park of U.S. Woopon Company, Bill
Johnson of Unisys, Adlai Stevenson from SCM (Hua Mei), David
Sokol from California Energy, Edward Muller, chief executive officer of Mission
Energy, Alice Young from the Kay Schuler Law firm and even Alan
Batkins from Kissinger Associates.

Clearly, the American taxpayer-sponsored 1994 APEC conference
yielded huge donations for the DNC, Clinton and Suharto. Yet,
many of the deals such as the Paiton power plant have not paid
for themselves, nor are they ever expected to. The Indonesian
strain of the “Asian Flu” started with the collapse of corrupt
deals driven by DNC cash fever, long before Monica Lewinsky
ruined President Clinton’s historic legacy.

America and the DNC share responsibility for much of the
corruption that turned Indonesia into an economic basket case.
The Indonesian and American people are burdened to this day with
debt from corrupt leaders. Indonesia must repay America with
hard dollars by collecting soft revenue in poorly valued Asian
currency, contributing to our economic woes as well as their
own.

Freedom and justice are roots from a common tree. Indonesia
removed Suharto earlier in 1998. America has also begun the
process of removing Bill Clinton from office. Suharto and
Clinton shared a moment in the stage of politics. Their act was
cast by greed and a lust for power that spanned the Pacific
Ocean.

Indonesia and America share much now and in the future, some of
it debt, some of it dishonor. In our shared moment of pain,
from political corruption and economic upheaval, there is but
one shining common goal: Both nations are inching toward
liberty.



SOURCE DOCUMENT INDEX:

DNC donation source document index


http://www.softwar.net/donor.html

Charles Smith

Charles R. Smith is a noted investigative journalist. For over 20 years, Smith has covered areas of national security and information warfare. He frequently appears on national television for the Fox network and is a popular guest on radio shows all over America. Read more of Charles Smith's articles here.