WASHINGTON – A federal judge yesterday issued warrants
for two Buddhist nuns who have apparently fled the country, Justice
Department officials said Tuesday.
The nuns were supposed to testify in the campaign finance abuse
trial of a Democratic fund-raiser, Los Angeles immigration consultant
Maria Hsia. The nuns have apparently fled to Indonesia.
The trial has a tangential connection to Vice President Al Gore.
Gore is not charged in the investigation, but he did unwittingly attend
a fund-raiser organized by the Taiwan-born Hsia at a Buddhist temple
near Los Angeles in 1996.
Hsia is accused of funneling about $55,000 from a Buddhist
organization through nuns and monks at the temple into the Clinton-Gore
campaign. Conduit-funding violates the Federal Election Campaign Act.
She is also accused of "causing" the Clinton-Gore campaign to
make false reports to the Federal Elections Commission, since the
campaign was told that the $55,000 came from the monks and nuns, not the
larger organization.
Gore is taking a pounding from former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.,
his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, over the 1996
campaign finance controversy.
– Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.
