Sen. Fred Thompson’s investigators couldn’t produce proof of a Chinese plot to buy influence by illegally contributing to U.S. campaigns. But now Sioeng’s bank accounts have yielded enough new evidence to prompt the Feds to convene a grand jury in L.A. to investigate Sioeng and other contributors. Confidential bank records examined by NEWSWEEK show that Sioeng and his family received wire transfers from two Hong Kong holding companies at the same time he was giving to the Democratic National Committee. The companies, it turns out, handle Sioeng’s business in China–which means Chinese money could have ended up in U.S. campaign coffers. NEWSWEEK has learned that investigators also want to know why Sioeng was flying parties of Chinese provincial officials to the United States for ““training courses’’ using Chinese money. And Sioeng was mentioned in intercepted Chinese communications in which Beijing officials discuss how to influence U.S. politics. Sioeng’s lawyer says his client simply used real-estate profits to make political donations and that he adamantly denies being a Chinese agent. He won’t discuss the criminal investigation.
Though he speaks no English and flashes a Belize passport, Ted Sioeng had little trouble becoming a player in the Democratic Party last year. He dined with Bill Clinton and Al Gore after giving the DNC $250,000. But Sioeng has close ties to Chinese pols, too. His extensive business with China included a deal to import Chinese-made cigarettes to the United States. And bank documents show that his account received at least $2.1 million in wire transfers from two of his Hong Kong companies last year–at the same time he and his daughter were giving generously to the DNC.
It’s a classic case of following the money. On Feb. 19, for example, Sioeng’s daughter wrote a check for $100,000 to the Democrats. Her account balance at the time was $10,000. Three days later she transferred $200,000 from her aunt’s account into her own. Records show the aunt had just received $518,000 from Pristine Investments–one of Sioeng’s Hong Kong outfits. Thompson’s investigators say these transactions arouse suspicion that Sioeng’s family broke a U.S. law that prohibits foreign campaign contributions. Last week the Feds also stepped up an inquiry into CCAID Executive Program Inc., a Sioeng-owned corporation that flies Chinese officials to California. Much of the money in that account came from the Bank of China, and the Feds want to know if it was used for donations. Sioeng’s lawyer says Sioeng was just promoting closer ties between the two countries.
Sioeng wasn’t just a friend to the Democrats. In 1995 a family-owned business gave $50,000 to an offshoot of the Republican National Committee, and one of Sioeng’s biggest beneficiaries was California Treasurer Matt Fong, who received $100,000 for his campaign. Sources close to the Sioeng family say Fong visited them 10 times looking for money and even stood over Sioeng as he wrote the checks. Fong gave the money back, saying he thought it was legitimate, but the Feds are investigating. Unfortunately, the person they’d most like to talk to isn’t around. Ted Sioeng took off for Hong Kong last winter–and he probably isn’t coming back soon.
WHERE DID THE MONEY GO?
The feds suspect Ted Sioeng’s contributions may have come from China, making them illegal. A survey of the gifts in questions:
Matt Fong; California’s state treasurer, a rising GOP star, got $100,000 (since returned) to pay off 1994 campaign debt. Fong introduced Sioeng to Newt Gingrich.
Dr. Daniel Wong; A supporter of Beijing. Wong was an obscure Republican candidate for a California state Assembly seat when he got a $5,000 donation from Sioeng’s wife.
Don Fowler; The Democratic National Committee took $250,000 from Sioeng’s daughter while Fowler was chairman. Sioeng sat next to Clinton at a fund-raiser.
Haley Barbour; The former Republican Party chair’s National Policy Forum got $50,000 from a Sioeng family firm-money reportedly solicited by a Gingrich aide.
title: “Pieces Of The Puzzle” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “Gertrude Palms”
So does that mean the case is almost solved–and that Washington is preparing to retaliate? Not exactly. In the interview, Saleh also wondered aloud if the real power behind the bombing was Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden… or Israeli intelligence agents. (Israel, that theory goes, might want to ruin U.S.-Arab relations; American officials scoff at that idea.) Although Yemeni and American investigators have collected an impressive array of evidence–with many intriguing connections to Afghanistan, where bin Laden lives in hiding–much of it remains inconclusive. “We haven’t gotten to that point yet where you sit down and say, ‘Are you sure?’ " says one senior U.S. official. And even if they had gotten there, it’s not at all clear what they would do next. After the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, the United States launched cruise missiles at bin Laden’s Afghan bases. But the assault did little material damage, and only bolstered bin Laden’s mystique as Washington’s most elusive and dangerous enemy.
Information about the Cole bombing is murky and, to some extent, speculative. (This week, the crippled Burke-class guided-missile destroyer finally arrives home, after riding piggyback on a massive Norwegian boat to naval shipyards at Pascagoula, Miss.) Even so, NEWSWEEK interviews with senior Yemeni and U.S. officials show the investigation has made substantial progress. American intelligence believes the suspects arrested by Yemen “transited” Afghanistan before the bombing, indicating that bin Laden may have orchestrated, or at least supported, the attack. And at least two of the suspects in custody have alleged ties to bin Laden’s organization. “We think the Cole terrorists have strong links with Afghanistan and we can say, yes, there are links with bin Laden,” said Hussein Arab, Yemen’s pistol-packing Interior minister, who is in charge of police investigators.
So far the only solid evidence the investigators have is against either Yemenis or people of Yemeni origin born in Saudi Arabia. And until recently Yemen wasn’t very cooperative with FBI agents assigned to carry out their own investigation. As a result of a Nov. 29 agreement, American agents now are able to sit in on interrogations and pass questions to the Yemeni police to ask; it took six weeks of negotiations to win that privilege. Judge Najib Shamiri, the Yemeni negotiator, said the hardest issue to settle was when and how the investigation could be concluded. In the end, he said, the Yemenis agreed to consult with the FBI first.
U.S. officials feared that the Yemenis would wrap up the investigation prematurely. Some recalled the worrisome case a year ago of the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, a group co-founded by Osama bin Laden’s brother. Its members were rounded up after they kidnapped British tourists, four of whom were killed in a rescue attempt. A rushed trial glossed over questions of who actually killed the hostages; when claims arose in court that some senior Yemeni officials had aided the group, Yemeni journalists were ordered to suppress the news, according to the editor of an independent paper. The government later claimed that the group’s leader, Abu Hassan, was killed by a firing squad. But under Yemen’s strict Sharia (religious law), executions are carried out in public–and Hassan’s was not. “No one knows if he’s really alive or dead,” says a prominent Yemeni.
Despite recent Yemeni cooperation, there is little chance any of the suspects will be extradited–that would take a waiver of Yemeni constitutional law. “This is political dynamite,” said Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani in a NEWSWEEK interview. Anyway, he said, “may-be it’s easier to punish them in Yemen than in the United States.” All six will be subject to the death penalty. “We will not take them and slaughter them immediately,” said Interior Minister Arab, noting that most had already confessed. “We will try them first.”
Of the six to be tried, two are accused of active involvement in the plot. The other four were involved in issuing ID cards and providing other services to the terrorist cell, but it’s not clear how much they knew. Yemeni officials refused to divulge the names of the six. Saleh, however, named al-Harazi as the organizer, paymaster and top Yemeni participant. Little is known about him–although Saleh said he was an Afghan-war veteran.
The terrorists failed in their first attempt to hit a U.S. warship. They hoped to sink the USS The Sullivans, another destroyer refueling in Aden, last Jan. 3. But their overloaded boat sank. Apparently both of the suicide bombers who hit the Cole were Yemenis born in Saudi Arabia–although final word awaits the results of DNA tests on remains found on the bottom of the harbor. One of the bombers, according to Interior Minister Arab, had been arrested for plotting a terrorist attack in Yemen after he returned from a visit to Afghanistan in 1999. He and 15 confederates served short terms in prison and then were released. That’s one mistake the Yemenis aren’t likely to make this time–especially not with the FBI looking over their shoulders.
