Probe Finds No Brown Bribe on Vietnam Trade

The Justice Department on Wednesday closed its investigation into whether Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown had taken a $700,000 bribe to facilitate lifting the trade embargo against Vietnam, and Brown’s lawyer said that he had been “completely exonerated.”

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno left the announcement of the action to the Commerce Department, which said Brown “is pleased that the inquiry has fully and fairly exonerated him of any wrongdoing.”

Reno, it was learned, decided against releasing the letter to Brown’s attorney and issuing a statement on grounds that the Justice Department does not do that for ordinary citizens.

The Commerce Department disseminated copies of the letter from Joseph E. Gangloff, acting chief of Justice’s public integrity section, to Reid Weingarten, Brown’s lawyer.

Noting that it has been investigating whether Brown had improperly agreed to use his influence to change U.S. trade policy toward Vietnam, Gangloff’s letter said: “We have completed a thorough investigation and have concluded that the evidence does not substantiate the allegation that Mr. Brown entered into any such agreement. No further investigation is warranted. Accordingly, we are closing the investigation.”

Gangloff said he appreciated “Secretary Brown’s cooperation with the investigation.”

The inquiry was initiated after Binh T. Ly, a Vietnamese American businessman who acknowledged that he had never met Brown, said he had been told of the alleged payoff scheme by a former business associate, Nguyen Van Hao. Ly said that Brown was to have been paid through a secret bank account in Singapore.

In September, Brown acknowledged meeting three times with Hao--in November and December, 1992, and February, 1993--but denied receiving money from him or having any kind of business relationship with him.

Hao, a Vietnamese businessman and former Vietnamese government official, and Ly, who passed an FBI polygraph examination, appeared before a federal grand jury in Miami that looked into the allegations, sources familiar with the inquiry said.

Hao, who lives in Miami, contended that Ly made up the story after being forced out of a business venture with Hao.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), who had called unsuccessfully for appointment of an independent counsel in the case, said Wednesday that “the charges certainly warranted a thorough investigation. If after looking at the proceeding, I’m satisfied that it was an adequate investigation--if Ron Brown indeed was innocent of solicitation of a bribe--I couldn’t be happier. But there was plenty of reason to examine the situation.”

Brown has said he took no part in Administration deliberations about lifting the trade embargo. President Clinton relaxed the embargo last September, and the Senate last week urged him to remove it. He is expected to end the embargo this week.