[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E181-E182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CHINA AND CHARLIE TRIE'S RECORDS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 12, 1998

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, I don't like being played for a sucker, and 
I don't like my country being played for one, either.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, that's what China's been doing to us for years, 
taking our money and enjoying privileges that should be limited to 
civilized states, all the while sabotaging our economy, meddling in our 
politics, and arming nations that hate us.
  Monday's headline in the Washington Times was the last straw, Mr. 
Speaker. It reads ``China won't release Trie's bank records.'' And we 
all know who Charlie Trie is, don't we, Mr. Speaker? He was a bag man 
for the DNC/Clinton-Gore Campaign. And what better place to hide from 
American justice than China, which has been stiffing our investigators 
from the beginning. China claims that the records our investigators 
seek belong to the government, and that releasing them would violate 
Chinese law. Baloney! Since when has China ever shown such a high 
regard for the rule of law? China doesn't want to release those 
documents because they would show the extent to which they tried to 
influence American elections, with the likely complicity of the White 
House. And that, Mr. Speaker, is what really bothers me even more than 
the other scandals now dominating the headlines.
  This, Mr. Speaker, is what we get for our multi-billion dollar 
generosity with China, and our willingness to grant her Most Favored 
Nation trading status.
  I call upon China to turn those documents over to our investigators, 
and to do so now. This is one member who won't forget any failure to do 
so when MFN comes back to us for consideration next summer.
  Mr. Speaker, I would urge all members to keep the Times article handy 
until next MFN vote, and with that in mind I place the article in 
today's Record.


[[Page E182]]



                      [From the Washington Times]

China Won't Release Trie's Bank Records--House Investigators Can't Get 
                                 Access

                            (By Jerry Seper)

       The Chinese government, which blocked congressional 
     investigators from traveling to Hong Kong and Beijing to 
     probe campaign-finance abuses during the 1996 election, has 
     refused to release records from two Chinese banks targeted in 
     the ongoing investigion.
       Investigators, according to House sources, want to look at 
     financial transactions at Bank of China branch offices in 
     Macao and Hong Kong involving Democratic fund-raiser Charles 
     Yah Lin Trie and Ng Lap Seng, a Macao real estate and casino 
     tycoon also known as Mr. Wu, who visited the White House 12 
     times, including a dinner with President Clinton sponsored by 
     the Democratic National Committee.
       The banks, however, refused to release the documents, 
     saying that they were owned by the Chinese government and 
     that releasing them would violate Chinese law.
       Last week, four investigators for the House Government 
     Reform and Oversight Committee were scheduled to leave for 
     China but were blocked by Chinese Embassy officials in 
     Washington who rejected their visa applications. The denial 
     prompted Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana Republican and the 
     committee's chairman, to ask Secretary of State Madeleine K. 
     Albright to intervene in the matter.
       In a letter to the committee, the bank's U.S. attorney, 
     Christopher Brady, said that since the financial institution 
     in owned by the Chinese government, it is ``deemed to be a 
     foreign state'' under international law. Accordingly, he 
     said, the bank is ``immune from U.S. jurisdiction''--
     including any responsibility to respond to subpoenas issued 
     it by the committee.
       ``While the bank would like to try to help your committee 
     as far as practicable, it does not believe that this extends 
     to violating the laws of the jurisdiction where the documents 
     are located,'' Mr. Brady wrote.
       The New York lawyer said in an interview that while he was 
     not aware of what the committee planned to do about the 
     bank's refusal, he said the position ``has support in the 
     law.''
       Committee investigators were described by the sources as 
     ``frustrated'' in their attempts to pursue accusations that 
     the Chinese government sought to influence the U.S. political 
     process during the 1996 presidential election.
       Embassy spokesman Yu Shuning said China ``has nothing 
     whatsoever to do with the political contributions'' in the 
     United States.
       Mr. Burton, the sources said, is expected to appeal 
     directly to the Chinese Embassy for an exception to allow the 
     banks to respond to the subpoenas. Failing that, they said, 
     he will ask the Justice Department to seek a waiver from Mr. 
     Trie to obtain his records directly from the bank.
       Mr. Trie and a business associate, Antonio Pan, face trial 
     Oct. 7 on 15 counts of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and 
     wire fraud.
       The indictment says Mr. Trie and Mr. Pan illegally diverted 
     money to the DNC through ``straw donors,'' who were then 
     secretly reimbursed in cash by the two men. Mr. Trie also is 
     accused of funneling more than $600,000 to the DNC. The 
     indictment says much of the money came from foreign sources.
       Mr. Trie, who fled to China after the probe began, returned 
     to Washington Tuesday. He has pleaded not guilty.
       About $1 million was wired from the Bank of China to the 
     joint account of Mr. Trie and Mr. Ng at Riggs Bank here, 
     Senate investigators have said.
       Mr. Trie came to public notice in 1996 when Mr. Clinton's 
     legal defense fund announced it was returning $640,000 in 
     donations he had collected. Fund executives said they did not 
     know the source of cash delivered in two envelopes. Donations 
     included checks with signatures that matched those on other 
     checks and money orders numbered sequentially but from 
     different cities.
       White House records show that Mr. Trie's campaign 
     activities won him unusual access to top administration 
     officials to promote personal business interests, including 
     10 dinners, lunches or coffees with Mr. Clinton, four of them 
     at the White House; four events with Vice Presidenti Al Gore, 
     one at the White House; and three White House tours with 
     business associates, along with photos with the president.
       Documents show that Mr. Ng visited the White House 12 
     times, including the dinner with Mr. Clinton. He went six 
     times to see White House aide Mark Middleton, who left the 
     administration in 1995 and is under investigation.
       Records also show that on Feb. 6, 1996, Mr. Ng took a tour 
     of the White House with seven other Asian visitors, including 
     Wang Jun, a reputed arms dealer for the Chinese government 
     who Mr. Clinton later acknowledged never should have been 
     granted access.

     

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