Chung talks, lien slapped

The California Franchise Tax Board placed a lien on all property and
funds belonging to former Democratic Party fund-raiser and Chinagate
witness Johnny Chung just days after he publicly accused high-ranking
Clinton administration and Democratic National Committee officials of
accepting cash payments for political access by Chinese military and
intelligence officials.

The entire California government apparatus — including the governor
and both houses of the Legislature — is controlled by Democrats.

On Oct. 22, the day before Chung, in lieu of death threats, went
public with his accusations
at a Judicial Watch conference in
Pasadena, Calif., a representative from the FTB contacted Chung’s tax
attorney saying his agency would not accept Chung’s offer of compromise.

Chung had earlier submitted an offer of compromise to the FTB because he
was unable to pay all his taxes due to his $700,000 debt that had been
acquired for such things as his legal fees in the ongoing Chinagate
investigation.

By law, any American citizen who can’t pay their taxes can make an
offer of compromise to the appropriate authorities.

Chung told WorldNetDaily the reason the FTB refused his offer of
compromise was because the agency didn’t think his company, Automatic
Intelligence
Systems Inc., was bankrupt yet. Although bankruptcy is an option for
Chung, he said he would never take the easy way out.

“I don’t want to file bankruptcy,” he said. “I can tell them I can’t
pay for it (in full), but I can offer them whatever money I have, and
they have to accept my offer of compromise.”

“I am a man with honor,” Chung added. “I don’t want to bankrupt
myself. It’s so simple. If I bankrupt myself, I will get off free.
Easy. I don’t want it.”

The FTB officially placed a lien on all of Chung’s property last
Monday. The Internal Revenue Service had earlier put a lien on Chung’s
property as well.

“It looks like retaliation for Johnny Chung’s speaking to Judicial
Watch at its fifth anniversary conference and revealing more about
illegal fund-raising of the Democratic Party,” commented Judicial
Watch’s Larry Klayman regarding the lien.

Joseph Farah, founder of the Western Journalism Center and editor of
WorldNetDaily, who first exposed a pattern of Internal Revenue Service
audits against Clinton administration adversaries, said he believes the
IRS cooperates closely with state tax collection agencies such as the
FTB.

“After I went public charging the IRS was being used as a political
tool against my organization and other Clinton critics, we found
ourselves facing a Franchise Tax Board audit, too, for the first time
ever,” Farah said. Farah and Klayman are currently
suing IRS and
administration officials for $10 million
over the audit of the center.

Although WorldNetDaily contacted the FTB, the agency would only
release information that was already public record. According to the
agency’s data,
Chung owes the state $51,607 for the 1994, 1995, and 1996 tax seasons.

Chung still lives in his own house and drives his own car, but paying
bills would be impossible if not for the help of a family member who
pays for the necessities.

“I am an American citizen,” said Chung. “(But) I’m living in a
condition even worse than an illegal immigrant in the United States. I
don’t have a checkbook. Everything’s been liened. I cannot write my
own check to pay the food on the table for my children.”

Because of Chung’s willingness to come out and expose the truth, even
with the risk of exposing his own involvement in the Chinagate scandal,
he has been asked to write a book and make a video where he would tell
the whole truth.

“I can sell (those items) to make some money to put the food on the
table for my children or to pay the debt,” Chung said hopefully.

“I always believe that I tell the truth. It’s the right thing for
our country,” said Chung. “They can lien my property, but they cannot
lien my soul or my loyalty to the United States.”