http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22126 DNC hasn't returned foreign campaign cash Judicial Watch says Riady, Lippo Group money still in coffers ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- By Jon Dougherty © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com The Democratic National Committee has yet to return illegal campaign contributions made by members of the Indonesian Riady family and the Riady-owned Lippo Group, contrary to assurances by DNC officials that the money had been returned. According to a statement released Wednesday by Judicial Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based legal watchdog group, Justice Department lawyers told a federal court Monday that "contrary to public statements, the DNC has never refunded or disgorged the illegal foreign contributions" received from James Riady. DNC officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. Riady pleaded guilty Monday to campaign finance violations. The court sentenced him to 400 hours of community service, two years of probation, and fined him $8.6 million -- the largest fine ever imposed for a campaign finance violation. The Lippo executive voluntarily agreed to return to the U.S. from Indonesia and face a court in exchange for the plea agreement. Had a trial ensued, if found guilty Riady could have faced a fine in excess of $17 million. He was facing 87 counts. Indonesia does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S.; had Riady chosen to do so, he could have remained there and escaped the charges indefinitely. "The issue arose under the [Justice Department's] plea agreement because in the unlikely event Mr. Riady receives the refunds back from the DNC, he must turn them over to the United States," Judicial Watch said in its statement. U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall accepted Riady's guilty plea over the objections of Judicial Watch, which argued that he was not being sufficiently punished for his crimes. The group submitted a legal brief outlining their position in court on Monday, but Marshall did not allow them to present oral argument in objection before she accepted the plea. Judicial Watch lawyers and officers remain displeased, not only with Riady's sentence but with the Clinton-era campaign finance scandal in general. "None of the fat-cat 'white guys' at the DNC or the Clinton-Gore White House have been held to account," said Judicial Watch chairman and chief counsel Larry Klayman, "nor have the politicians" involved. He said Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Carl Levin, D-Mich., Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (and husband to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao), "and others who received illegal monies from Riady and his operative, John Huang," have yet to be held accountable. "Indeed … Chao arranged for [illegal] contributions from Huang to (former New York Republican) Sen. Alfonse D'Amato," Klayman said. "There is a dual system of justice, and the high Caucasian echelon of the Washington elite are currently above the law." Klayman and Judicial Watch are currently involved with 11 "Chinagate" lawsuits, the statement said. "Unlike the Bush administration, we will not be 'blackmailed' into failing to represent the American people," Klayman said. "The Bush administration seems afraid of the Republican involvement in the Chinagate scandal, and this has caused it not to bring about justice." Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan O'Brien said Riady's plea agreement and conviction came after a year of steadfast negotiations. "In return, you have a very high fine, the highest fine in the history of the United States," he told reporters Monday. "We felt that was an appropriate sentence because this is one of the more significant and egregious violations."
WorldNetDaily DNC hasn't returnedbr foreign campaign cash.url
