Clinton’s last pardon under scrutiny
U.S. Attorney, FBI to search bank, phone records for illegal conduct

By Pat Milton
Associated Press

NEW YORK — A federal prosecutor has cranked up the heat on former President Clinton, launching a criminal investigation to determine if money played a role in the last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, in a brief statement issued Thursday, confirmed her office and the FBI “have opened an investigation to determine whether there have been any violations of federal law” in the pardons of Rich and his partner, Pincus Green. It did not elaborate.

White’s probe is expected to examine bank and telephone records and other documents for evidence of illegal conduct, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

“She is trying to determine if there was a transfer of money to buy the pardon,” the source told The Associated Press Wednesday, speaking only on condition of anonymity.

The move comes after Senate and House committees launched similar probes of the Rich pardon, one of 141 granted by Clinton on Jan. 20, his final day in office.

White, who was appointed to her post by Clinton in 1993, has said the pardon was granted without consultation with her office, which indicted Rich in 1983.

Critics have noted that Rich’s ex-wife Denise contributed an estimated $450,000 to the Clinton Presidential Library Fund, more than $1.1 million to the Democratic Party and at least $109,000 to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate campaign.

According to the source, the White investigation will try to determine if there was any link between the contributions and the Clinton decision. Under the U.S. Constitution, presidents have an absolute right to issue pardons that are not subject to review by any other government entity. The federal probe would focus instead on possible criminal wrongdoing stemming from the contributions.

In a statement issued through transition office spokeswoman Julia Payne late Wednesday, Clinton again denied any wrongdoing.

“As I have said repeatedly, I made the decision to pardon Marc Rich based on what I thought was the right thing to do,” he said. “Any suggestion that improper factors, including fund raising for the (Democratic National Committee) or my library, had anything to do with the decision are absolutely false. I look forward to cooperating with any appropriate inquiry.”

White’s spokesman, Herb Haddad, said her office would have no comment on the report of an investigation. In Washington, Justice Department spokeswoman Mindy Tucker also had no comment on the report.

Rich, who fled to Switzerland in the 1980s, was wanted by the Justice Department on charges of evading more than $48 million in taxes, fraud and participating in illegal oil deals with Iran.

In testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Justice Department pardon attorney Roger Adams said the White House initially failed to tell him during a midnight phone call that Rich was a fugitive.

“I was not told,” Adams said. “I learned that from the FBI.”

After discovering that Rich and his indicted partner were fugitives, Adams fired off a fax to the White House summarizing the facts of their criminal case. The White House then asked Adams to fax over the materials that he had gotten from the FBI.

The revelations prompted several Democrats to questions Clinton’s decision to later pardon Rich. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said the pardon “certainly raises the appearance of impropriety.”