Riadys rip 'false and malicious' reports

WASHINGTON — For the last 18 months, they have faced a torrent of allegations, including illegally funneling foreign campaign contributions to support President Clinton’s reelection and

planting a mole in his administration to glean U.S. government secrets about China. Throughout, Indonesia’s billionaire Riady family has remained mute. Until now. The family-controlled Lippo

Group, a Jakarta-based financial conglomerate with a major presence in Hong Kong and a growing one in China, issued a strongly worded statement to The Times denying the assertion by

Republican members of a Senate investigating committee that Mochtar Riady, the family patriarch, and his son, James, “have had a long-term relationship with a Chinese intelligence agency.”

“Not wishing to entangle ourselves in American national issues and debates, we have remained silent,” the one-page release said. “However, recent reports appearing in the United States press

are so false and malicious, we must break our silence.” Specifically, the statement said: “Our business ventures with our international partners are commercial in nature and do not involve

the gathering of classified information or other intelligence operations.” The Riadys’ friendship with Clinton dates back 20 years to when they were investors in an Arkansas bank and he was

that state’s governor. The family, its companies and their associates gave more than $840,000 to the Democratic Party between 1992 and 1996, and James Riady visited the Clinton White House

at least 20 times. The Riadys also helped place John Huang, a longtime Lippo employee, at the Commerce Department in 1994 and then at the Democratic National Committee. It was there that he

raised more than half of the $3 million that the DNC later returned because it could not verify that it came from legal, domestic donors. The attacks, the family contends, are politically

motivated. “For over one year, the Lippo Group and certain members of the Riady family have been accused in the United States of countless crimes, improprieties, improper motives and

associations because of a long-standing friendship with president and Mrs. Clinton,” the statement said. The reference to the Riadys and Chinese intelligence is contained in a report by the

Republican majority of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. The document also referred to China Resources Holding Co., a government-affiliated trading company that intelligence experts

say has been used by the Chinese to gather intelligence. In 1993, the Riadys sold half of their Hong Kong Chinese Bank to China Resources. Without naming China Resources, the statement

said: “The Lippo Group, like many U.S. companies, has business relationships with many international groups, including Japanese, European but also Chinese-owned state corporations. To

attribute the activities of one arm of the Chinese government to these state-owned corporations, and in turn to us, is unfair and inappropriate.” The statement also says Lippo has never

dealt in classified information, nor did it ever funnel money to the United States “for the purpose of contributing to or influencing any election at the instigation of any foreign country.”

In all dealings in the U.S., “we have attempted to the best of our ability to comply with all applicable laws,” the company said. “To our knowledge, we have done so.” The statement is also

notable for what it does not mention. There is no reference to Huang, who remains under investigation. MORE TO READ