Reprinted from The Washington Times, March 4, 1998
Suspected agent for China linked to drug kingpin
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
An Indonesian businessman suspected of being a Chinese agent who sought to influence the 1996 elections is believed to have formed a partnership with a reputed Cambodian drug kingpin, federal authorities said.
Ted Sioeng, who met with President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore during the 1996 campaign, has been spotted by U.S. authorities in Phnom Penh with Theng Bunma, named by the State Department in 1994 as a major heroin trafficker.
Mr. Sioeng, whose business holdings include two California hotels and a Chinese-language newspaper in the Los Angeles area, is a major focus of a Justice Department task force probe and a House Government Reform and Oversight Committee investigation concerning accusations he sought to influence U.S. foreign policy with campaign donations during the 1996 elections.
He is the first person identified as a suspected Chinese agent in the ongoing investigations.
Meanwhile, the House committee yesterday wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno seeking advice on possibly granting immunity to two witnesses in its campaign-finance probe, both of whom could testify on Democratic fund-raiser Charles Yah Lin Trie.
Mr. Trie, a longtime Arkansas friend and supporter of Mr. Clinton's, pleaded not guilty last month to federal charges of conspiring to buy political influence through the illegal diversion of campaign cash to the Democratic National Committee. Trial is set for October.
Committee Chairman Dan Burton, Indiana Republican, said Maria P. Mapili, Mr. Trie's bookkeeper, and Charlie Chiang, a local restaurateur, have "direct knowledge" of Mr. Trie's activities. He said Mrs. Mapili controlled the books for Mr. Trie's company, Daihatsu International, and knows about his receipt of foreign money. He said Mr. Trie and Mr. Chiang exchanged "large amounts of money."
The Justice Department is reviewing the letter.
Mr. Sioeng's suspected ties to the Chinese government, the sources said, surfaced in 1996 in communications intercepted by U.S. intelligence sources between Beijing and the Chinese Embassy in Washington. The communications reportedly outlined a scheme to increase China's influence with congressional, state and local officials.
Mr. Sioeng is a friend of former Lippo Group executive, Commerce Department official and DNC fund-raiser John Huang, another focus of the task-force probe. Records show his bank account got wire transfers of more than $2 million from two Hong Kong holding companies at the same time he was contributing to Mr. Clinton's re-election campaign. The holding companies handled his business dealings in China.
In July 1996, Mr. Sioeng sat next to Mr. Clinton at a fund-raiser in California and has appeared at other events involving the president and Mr. Gore, including a February 1996 dinner with other targets of the task force and House probes, including Mr. Trie.
Mr. Theng, whose purported $400 million business empire includes a hotel, a bank, an import-export company and various other properties, has been identified by the State Department as being "closely and heavily involved in drug trafficking in Cambodia." U.S. drug authorities said Cambodia, Thailand, Burma and Laos produce most of the world's heroin; Cambodia is considered the major transit point.
Mr. Theng has denied the accusations. U.S. intelligence officials believe Mr. Theng, one of Cambodia's wealthiest businessmen, has contributed heavily to the cash-short Cambodian government, much of the money going to the military, where it was used to hire soldiers to protect his heroin business.
Rep. Gerald B.H. Solomon, New York Republican and chairman of the House Rules Committee, which first questioned foreign ties to the 1996 election, has asked Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright to explain how Mr. Theng obtained visas to enter the country, particularly those enabling him to gain access to Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore during the 1996 campaign.
The department has said it is reviewing the issuance of visas to Mr. Theng.Copyright 1998 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission of
The Washington Times.
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