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Post Stories Democratic Fund-Raiser Hsia Indicted (Feb. 19) Committee's Draft Report Leaves Many Questions By Lena H. Sun Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 19, 1998; Page A14 He is described in a new congressional report as "one of the most central figures in the campaign finance scandal." For months, his name kept popping up in the headlines as a key player -- if not the key player -- in many Democratic Party fund-raisers involving foreign contributions to the 1996 presidential campaign. Yet after almost $3.5 million and a year of investigation in Asia and in this country, the Senate panel probing campaign finance abuses still cannot answer many fundamental questions about former Democratic Party fund-raiser John Huang and allegations about a plot by China to subvert the U.S. elections. Nor can it elaborate on how Huang and other operatives such as Los Angeles immigration consultant Maria Hsia, who was indicted yesterday on charges related to a fund-raiser at a Buddhist temple, may have helped further that plan. These questions are sprinkled throughout the 1,500-page draft report by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's GOP majority. The final document is scheduled to be released next week, when Congress returns from its Presidents' Day recess. The initial Jan. 31 deadline for publication has slipped repeatedly while the panel's chairman, Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.), and spy agencies negotiated the contents of an acceptable unclassified section describing the alleged involvement in U.S. elections by China. The 20-page unclassified chapter on the People's Republic of China traces illegal foreign contributions to the Democratic National Committee that were allegedly "facilitated by individuals with extensive ties to the PRC." The report says the original sources of many of these contributions were bank accounts in "the greater China area," meaning Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. But the committee acknowledges it "still cannot determine . . . whether the PRC funded, directed, or encouraged the illegal contributions" to the DNC. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said last week the "tone" of the Republican version "is just about right." But he also urged law enforcement agencies to pursue the allegations to see if there is "more than circumstantial evidence." The committee identifies several instances of foreign money donations connected to six individuals "with ties to China." They include Huang; Hsia; California businessman Ted Sioeng; James and Mochtar Riady, who control the Indonesia-based Lippo Group and who are friends and supporters of President Clinton; and Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, a former Little Rock restaurateur turned international business consultant. The committee report asserts that Hsia "has been an agent of the Chinese government," but it describes no specific actions she may have taken in support of this alleged role. Nor does it address why an agent of Beijing would work so hard to arrange for then-Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) to make a prestigious visit in the late 1980s to the breakaway island of Taiwan, China's archenemy. Hsia's attorney has denied that Hsia was a Chinese agent or that she participated in any campaign fund-raising illegalities. Lawyers for Huang, Trie and Sioeng have repeatedly denied any allegations of espionage on behalf of China. Committee staff members acknowledge they do not know the ultimate source of the illegal contributions or the motivations of the key players. But they say the Governmental Affairs panel was never in a position to conduct investigations into sensitive intelligence allegations involving the China plot. Their work was also stymied because Huang, Hsia, Trie and others have invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination or refused to cooperate. In addition, the committee could not get access to overseas banking records, including those in China and Macao. "I think we filled in a lot of blanks," said one GOP panel staff member. "But until we talk to [Huang] or the Riadys, those questions will remain unanswered." Even in cases where the committee -- and the Justice Department -- have produced specific allegations, such as those against Trie, they have not been directly connected to the alleged China money plot. Trie was out of the country until he surrendered to authorities this month after his indictment on charges he illegally funneled foreign funds to the 1996 Clinton-Gore reelection effort -- the first indictment by the Justice Department in its fund-raising probe. Trie has entered a not guilty plea and his lawyer, Reid H. Weingarten, said at the time "any attempt to make him the heavy in this political scandal will fall of its own weight." The Senate GOP report makes the same allegations contained in the 15-count federal indictment. Committee investigators were able to establish during the hearings that "straw donors" -- individuals who made campaign contributions to the DNC at Trie's behest -- were reimbursed with money from overseas business associates of Trie who were not legally eligible to contribute to U.S. campaigns. Much of the funds came from Trie's business associate, a Macao-based tycoon named Ng Lap Seng, who sent him nearly $1 million in 1995-1996. The report claims Trie was seeking to profit from his political connections but is unable to identify his goals because he does not appear to have reaped any gains. Moreover, the committee was unable to shed light on his benefactors. "The source of Ng's funds and what he or those behind him hoped to gain . . . remain unknown," the report says. The draft report devotes four chapters -- totaling 150 pages -- to Huang. The goal was to understand why Huang, an executive at a small California bank owned by Lippo, who "raised money prolifically for the Democratic Party and was rewarded with a political appointment at the Department of Commerce, was so often and well received by President Clinton and his staff." The committee looked in detail at his activities at Lippo, Commerce and the DNC, where he became a fund-raiser in December 1995. "What emerges from the Committee's investigation is a picture of Huang both complex and vexing, which raises as many questions as it answers," the report says. Huang, whose security clearance and access to classified material during his 18 months at Commerce were examined during the Thompson hearings, had numerous and frequent contacts with Lippo, his former employer. The GOP report suggests that Huang had wider access to classified information than was made public during the hearings. For example, a deposition by his former secretary, Janice Stewart, quoted in the report, says he did not return all the classified cables he received "for either disposal or filing." While the report notes that Huang often used a spare office across the street from Commerce belonging to Stephens Inc., an Arkansas investment banking firm that owned a controlling interest with the Riady family in a Little Rock bank in the late 1970s, "the committee found no direct evidence that Huang passed any sensitive information to his former employers." However, "a single piece of unverified information shared with the Committee indicates that Huang himself may possibly have had a direct financial relationship with the PRC government," the report says. The committee's information is not corroborated, the report says. At least one GOP senator, Robert F. Bennett (Utah), has criticized the report for not probing deeply enough into Huang's supposed contacts with China, and is drafting a separate statement about his views on Huang. "The center of the controversy in Senator Bennett's mind focuses around the pattern and history of John Huang," his press secretary, Mary Jane Collipriest, said. "He feels like that issue needs to receive further and deeper attention." Staff writers Bob Woodward and Roberto Suro contributed to this report. © Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company Back to the top Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section