| For Immediate Release Mar 21, 2001 |
Contact: Press Office 202-646-5172 |
Disclosure Made by Justice Department During Riady Plea Agreement Hearing DNC Lied to Press Corps and American People (Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, Inc., the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, opposed the Riady plea agreement in the Chinagate scandal. It was in Court last Monday and learned, from the Justice Department lawyers, that, contrary to public statements, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) has never refunded or disgorged the illegal foreign contributions which it received from Riady. The issue arose under the 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. The revelation that the DNC has not voluntarily disgorged, or been forced to disgorge, the illegal foreign campaign contributions, underscores the sham and bogus nature of the Justice Department�s campaign finance investigations and prosecutions. In addition, not one DNC or Clinton-Gore White House official has been prosecuted, much less indicted, in the Chinagate scandal. While Mr. Riady and others deserved �a lot more� than they received for their crimes of bribery and treason against the American people, the hard fact is that only minorities, such as Asian Americans, have been prosecuted at all. �None of the fat cat �white guys� at the DNC or the Clinton-Gore White House have been held to account. Nor have the politicians, such as Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Robert Torricelli (D-NJ), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and others who received illegal monies from Riady and his operative, John Huang. Indeed, even Bush Labor Secretary Elaine Chao arranged for [illegal] contributions from Huang to Senator Alfonse D�Amato. There is a dual system of justice, and the high Caucasian echelon of the Washington elite are currently above the law,� stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman. �Judicial Watch has 11 Chinagate lawsuits and is working hard to have the �white guys� of the DNC, Clinton-Gore White House, and others held accountable under the rule of law. Unlike the Bush Administration, we will not be �blackmailed� into failing to represent the American people. The Bush Administration seem afraid of the Republican involvement in the Chinagate scandal, and this has caused it not to bring about justice,� added Klayman. | |