In 1993, John Huang was very close to the Clintons, having worked with both Bill and Hillary during the Arkansas years at the part-Indonesian-owned Worthen Bank. Bill Clinton’s personal choice for the Commerce Department was former Lippo banker John Huang.
Indonesian billionaire Moctar Riady and James Riady paid Huang very well at Lippo Bank, much more than any income he could legally earn at the Commerce Department.
Huang pulled down six figures while at Lippo but barely broke $50,000 a year inside the Clinton Commerce Department. When Huang left Lippo for the Clinton administration, he bravely took a major cut in pay and a secret clearance.
Mrs. Clinton reportedly insisted that John Huang be given a position at the U.S. Commerce Department under Ron Brown. Mrs. Clinton has not made any public comment on her relationship with Huang’s employer, Indonesian billionaire Moctar Riady. Yet there is a very nice picture of Mrs. Clinton greeting Moctar Riady in the White House.
Indonesian billionaire Moctar Riady has been accused of passing illegal monies to the 1992 and 1996 Clinton-Gore campaigns. His son James pleaded guilty to passing illegal money to the Clinton campaign.
Ironically, the CIA also accused Riady of working for Chinese military intelligence. According to a 1998 CIA report presented to Senator Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., “James and Moctar Riady have had a long-term relationship with a Chinese intelligence agency. The relationship is based on mutual benefit with the Riadys receiving assistance in finding business opportunities in exchange for large sums of money and other help.”
“The Chinese intelligence agency seeks to locate and develop relationships with information collectors, particularly with close association to the U.S. government,” states the CIA report on Riady.
John Huang
Documents from Huang’s office show that while at the Commerce Department he worked on weapons exports. Huang had detailed documents covering proposed exports of Patriot missiles to South Korea, artillery to Kuwait, attack helicopters to the Netherlands, and fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates.
During his stay at Commerce, Huang obtained a secret clearance and attended more than 37 classified briefings from the CIA.
Huang’s documents show that the Commerce Department and the CIA were aware of massive corruption inside electric power plant deals for Indonesia. The “corruption, collusion and nepotism” cost the U.S. and Indonesian taxpayers billions of dollars siphoned off into the corrupt Suharto family dictatorship.
John Huang pleaded guilty in 1999 to federal charges of making illegal political contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign. In addition, Huang took the Fifth Amendment over 2,000 times when asked under oath if he was an agent of the Chinese government.
The federal judge in charge of Huang’s case has cited him for contempt for not answering questions under oath. Still, the judge has never enforced any penalty on the convicted felon for not answering questions.
Blame It on Freeh
Bill Clinton mentions the Chinagate scandal in his 957-page book only once, blaming the entire series of events on FBI Director Louis Freeh.
“I didn’t believe Freeh was foolish enough to think the Democratic party would knowingly accept illegal contributions from the Chinese government, he was just trying to avoid criticism from the press and the Republicans,” writes Clinton.
Of course, Clinton does not go into the close working relationship his wife had with Johnny Chung. Chung frequently paid visits to the White House, delivering brown paper bags of cash to the first lady – no questions asked.
In 1996, the head of Chinese military intelligence, General Ji, met with Johnny Chung in the basement of a Hong Kong restaurant. At the same time, Johnny’s daughter and her teenage friend were inside communist China, under the close supervision of Chinese army agents.
“We like your president,” General Ji told Chung before passing a check for $300,000 across the table. “We want him re-elected.”
Considering that his daughter’s life was at stake, Johnny Chung was certainly in no position to disagree with General Ji. Some of the $300,000 in red army money made it to Clinton and Gore through the Democratic National Committee.
Johnny Chung pleaded guilty and currently cites his bank-account record as proof that Chinese army money was passed to the Clinton-Gore campaign.
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