Memo Links Clinton To Riady

A 1992 memo telling Bill Clinton that international banker James Riady had "flown all the way from Indonesia" to make a six-figure donation and take a car ride with the Democratic presidential nominee is providing investigators with fresh evidence of a foreign money trail.

Riady, an Indonesian billionaire, wrote out half-a-million dollars in checks to the Democratic Party after the five-minute car ride scheduled with Mr. Clinton in August 1992, just weeks after he won the Democratic nomination.

Bank statements and memos reviewed by investigators show one of the 1992 donations from a Riady company was directly covered by foreign money. The rest were drawn on a personal account that appears to have been replenished - before and after the donations - with foreign funds.

Some money went to the Democratic Party's accounts that directly help federal candidates.

Riady "will be giving $100,000 to this event and has the potential to give much more," Mr. Clinton was told in a memo Aug. 14, 1992, that advised he would share a car ride that day with the Indonesian billionaire after a fund-raiser.

The memo, obtained by The Associated Press, was written by Melinda Yee, the Democratic Party's outreach director for Asian-Americans. It said Riady, whose family controls the Lippo banking and industrial empire, wanted to talk to Mr. Clinton "about banking issues and international business" and the car ride was "a courtesy call."

Mr. Clinton's schedule for that day says Riady greeted him at the door of a California restaurant where the two attended a Democratic fund-raiser and then took a five-minute car ride.

The memo, schedule, and checks were brought to the attention of the Justice Department months ago by congressional investigators.

Attorney General Janet Reno has resisted naming an independent counsel to investigate fund raising, although the chief of her campaign fund-raising task force and FBI director Louis Freeh have urged such an appointment. The chief of the task force, Charles LaBella, is writing a report and will make a final recommendation.

Riady had a permanent green card and was a Clinton acquaintance from the 1980s, when Riady worked in Arkansas. After Mr. Clinton's election, Riady was an occasional visitor to the White House, where he got direct access to Mr. Clinton.

White House officials said Mr. Clinton had no reason to suspect the donations.

"Mr. Riady...owned and continues to own American financial institutions that generate U.S. income," White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said. "In 1992, he was a lawful permanent resident and eligible to contribute to any political party.

"Thus there was no basis for anyone to believe that Mr. Riady's contributions to the DNC might be illegal. To suggest that, based upon the routine briefing memo to then-Governor Clinton, is truly absurd."

The AP made a weeklong effort to reacRiady, but a spokesman said Monday he was still unavailable for comment. In the past, Riady has said he believes his donations were legal.

Federal law forbids U.S. candidates and parties from accepting foreign money. The law allows foreigners who are legally and permanently residing in the United States to make donations. U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies can only donate if they use funds generated inside the United States.

The memo to Mr. Clinton clearly noted that Riady had moved from the United States. "He has flown all the way from Indonesia, where he is now based, to attend the fund-raiser," it said. And some of the donations were written from Lippo Bank in California on what appear to be starter or counter checks, lacking the normal numbering of a personal checkbook.

Trevor Potter, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, said the issue of green-card holders who donate while outside the United States is untested but that a "careful reading of the law suggests a green-card holder must be residing in the country to donate."

Potter said that in 1992, most fund-raisers would have accepted a green card as reason enough to accept a donation. But the memo and checks "should have raised a red flag," he said.

DNC spokesman Rick Hess said Monday the Democratic National Committee has instituted stricter scrutiny of donations since the controversy erupted, but he said even "the most careful vetting procedures" wouldn't have raised questions about Riady.

Copies of checks show Riady immediately made good on his $100,000 pledge.

He and his wife, Aileen, wrote two checks totaling $30,000 from a personal account to the DNC's hard money accounts - those used to assist federal candidates. The couple wrote an additional $10,000 in checks to the California Democratic Party's federal accounts.

Those checks were dated Aug. 13, 1992, the day before the car ride, but weren't cashed for several days.