-Caveat Lector-
With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2001 1:31 a.m. EST
The Riady Case: Ashcroft's Revenge?
Senate Democrats may regret giving would-be Bush attorney general
John Ashcroft such a hard time during his confirmation hearings -
especially now that the case of Clinton billionaire-crony James
Riady will be among the first major investigations on Ashcroft's
calendar after he takes office.
Riady's sweetheart plea bargain with the Clinton Justice
Department, which was supposed to be finalized by a Los Angeles
court on Tuesday, has hit a major bump in the road.
First the case had to be postponed, probably till late February
or early March, according to a court spokesman, after the
presiding judge needed more time to recover from surgery.
Complicating matters further, the court seemed receptive to the
argument from lawyers for the public interest law firm Judicial
Watch that the deal didn't cover important charges against the
wealthy Indonesian.
Investigators have long suspected that President Clinton may have
traded key foreign policy decisions for campaign cash from Riady,
who is also believed to have funneled hush money to key
Whitewater witness Webb Hubbell.
With Tuesday's postponement, the truth behind such machinations
may be harder to keep from the prying eyes of investigators.
Not only is Riady's newly assigned judge, Ronald Lew, a Reagan
appointee, the postponement means Lew will be operating free from
constraints of the Clinton-Reno Justice Department, under which
obstructing the campaign finance probe was priority No. 1.
Clinton Justice had announced its deal with Riady on Friday, an
arrangement that compelled the Asian tycoon to plead guilty to
illegally reimbursing campaign donors with foreign corporate
funds and to pay $8.6 million in fines.
Also part of the deal: Lippo Bank of California, a subsidiary of
the Riady family's Lippo Group, agreed to plead guilty to 86
misdemeanor counts charging that their man in the Clinton
administration, John Huang, donated foreign campaign cash to
Clinton and the Democrats from 1988 through 1994.
But on Monday, New York Times columnist William Safire revealed
the most significant aspect of Riady's plea bargain:
"What if a federal judge at tomorrow's scheduled hearing in Los
Angeles should object to the wrist slap arranged by outgoing Reno
aides and give Riady the jail sentence the totality of his
wrongdoing deserves?" the columnist asked.
"In that case, Justice has agreed to nullify the confession and
promises not to arrest him as he leaves the country."
It's difficult to imagine straight arrow Attorney General
Ashcroft feeling obligated by Clinton Justice's promise to
deep-six Riady's confession - let alone standing idly by as the
Clinton moneyman hotfoots it out of the country one jump ahead of
the sheriff.
In fact, the temporarily shelved Clinton-Riady plea bargain may
end up being just the springboard the Bush-Ashcroft Justice
Department needs to launch a full-fledged Chinagate probe.
That possibility seemed to be on the mind of Judicial Watch
President Tom Fitton on Tuesday.
"Judge Lew won't be considering the plea until well into the
Bush-Cheney administration and we hope that a new Justice
Department will pursue this case differently," Fitton told
Reuters. "We'll be there [at the plea hearing] asking that Lew
reject it."
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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