Ethics Panel Opens Probe of Hatch, BCCI

The Senate Ethics Committee opened an investigation Wednesday into contacts between the office of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and the defunct Bank of Credit & Commerce International.

A one-paragraph statement by the committee said only that the inquiry would examine contacts between Hatch’s office and representatives of BCCI. The Luxembourg-based bank was shut by regulators worldwide in 1991 after allegations of widespread corruption.

Hatch requested the investigation and has provided the committee with office records and documents, according to the statement issued by Sen. Richard H. Bryan (D-Nev.), the committee chairman, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), vice chairman.

Attempts to reach Hatch were unsuccessful. In the past, he has denied any wrongdoing and said that he welcomed a Senate inquiry.

BCCI’s downfall began in January, 1990, when it pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in Tampa, Fla. Soon after the plea, Hatch made a speech on the Senate floor defending the bank. A report last year by a Senate subcommittee said that the speech was drafted for Hatch by lawyers for BCCI.

After the speech, Hatch made telephone calls to the head of BCCI in London seeking a $10-million loan for a business associate of the senator’s, according to sources and published reports.

In addition, a former Hatch staff member assisted BCCI lawyers in crafting a strategy to restrict the investigation of the bank by the Justice Department after its guilty plea, according to last year’s Senate report and other sources.

In another action announced Wednesday, the Ethics Committee said that it will take no action on complaints that Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) sexually assaulted his hairdresser 17 years ago. The committee said that the hairdresser refused to file a complaint about Inouye and had said that she would not willingly cooperate with an inquiry.