-Caveat Lector-
Clinton Friend Riady Appears in Federal Courtroom
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Indonesian billionaire James Riady, who
agreed to plead guilty to breaking federal election laws and pay
a record $8.6 million fine, made a brief court appearance on
Tuesday as a conservative watchdog group urged a judge to reject
his controversial plea deal.
Riady, a friend of President Clinton, appeared before a federal
magistrate in Los Angeles for arraignment. The case was then
transferred to U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew, who must approve
the plea agreement and impose sentence.
The Justice Department (news - web sites) said last week that
Riady had reached a deal with prosecutors under which he will
plead guilty to illegally reimbursing campaign donors with
foreign corporate funds and pay $8.6 million in fines.
LippoBank California, which is affiliated with Lippo Group, the
Riady family conglomerate in Indonesia, has agreed to plead
guilty to 86 misdemeanor counts charging that Riady and former
Lippo employee John Huang made illegal foreign campaign
contributions from 1988 through 1994.
Riady's plea deal, which spares him prison time, has come under
fire from some as a ``wrist-slap'' to the billionaire
businessman. Critics have also complained that the deal does not
cover the years 1994 and 1995, when Riady was a key figure in the
controversy over how Clinton and Vice President Al Gore (news -
web sites) financed their 1996 reelection campaign.
At Tuesday's hearing, lawyers for the conservative watchdog group
Judicial Watch said that they would ask Judge Lew -- an appointee
of former President Ronald Reagan -- to reject Riady's plea deal.
``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,'' Judicial Watch
President Tom Fitton said. ``We'll be there (at the plea hearing)
asking that Lew reject it.''
Fitton said Judicial Watch was particularly incensed that ''the
plea only goes until 1994, not 1995 and 1996 when the bigger
crimes took place.''
The Wall Street Journal on Monday criticized Riady's plea deal in
an editorial, writing that ``it is now well-established that
money from Mr. Riady and his friends in 1995 and 1996 helped fuel
a huge barrage of TV ads damaging GOP candidate Bob Dole and
giving Mr. Clinton an early edge in the election.''
Conservative columnist William Safire on Monday called the $8.6
million fine a ``painless penalty'' to the wealthy Riady and will
not convince him to ``tell the truth about his hugely successful
purchase of White House influence.''
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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