Fund-Raiser’s Testimony Shocks No One

For three years, John Huang loomed as the central figure in the 1996 Democratic campaign fund-raising controversy triggered by millions of dollars in tainted contributions to help reelect President Clinton. And for three years, Huang has had virtually nothing to say in public.

That changed Wednesday when a low-key and respectful Huang appeared before a congressional committee and national television audience.

But there were no major revelations as Huang testified under oath that he was unaware of any wrongdoing by President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore or any Democratic Party official, and denied each of the most sensational allegations leveled against him.

Three Days of Testimony

In the first of three days of testimony before the House Government Reform Committee, Huang acknowledged that he helped arrange nearly $1 million in illegal contributions for the Democratic Party from 1992 to 1994 when he participated in schemes by the Indonesian Lippo Group--his employer at the time--to reimburse himself and others for contributions. He pleaded guilty in August to a felony conspiracy charge in connection with some of those donations.

But he insisted that he did not bring in any such contributions in 1996, when he worked as a fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee. More than half of the $3 million that Huang raised for the DNC in 1996 was returned because it came from foreign sources or was otherwise suspect.

However, Huang broke new ground when he disclosed that he has received financial assistance from Mochtar Riady, the billionaire head of the Lippo conglomerate, and his son James since the campaign finance scandal erupted in 1996. Huang said that the Riadys sent him about $18,000 as “gift money” for Christmas in 1997 and that James T. Riady gave him $20,000 when they met in Singapore in 1998. This year, the Riadys reimbursed Huang for his expenses when he traveled to Jakarta for Mochtar’s 70th birthday party.

Huang, who had been Lippo’s highest-ranking U.S. employee, said that he interpreted the financial gifts as a show of concern from his former employers because “I have not been working all these years.”

Republicans, led by Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-Ind.), hope that Huang’s extensive testimony will breathe new life into their three-year investigation and shed light on politically damaging events involving Clinton and Gore. He is one of numerous key figures who previously had refused to testify or had fled the country.

Huang, who has been cooperating with federal investigators, is appearing under a grant of congressional immunity. Extensive notes taken by FBI agents from their investigation of Huang were released by the committee last month.

The Glendale resident acknowledged that he had “made mistakes” and said that he was “embarrassed and saddened by the unfortunate attention my conduct and notoriety brought upon” the Asian American community. But he called the offenses “dated and isolated” and said that it was his goal to spur Asian American political activism rather than personal gain.

He portrayed himself as a victim of scurrilous allegations that had the effect of “unjustifiably demonizing me and other Asian Americans.”

Responding to a series of questions from Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, the panel’s ranking Democrat, Huang replied, “No, sir,” when asked whether he had ever provided classified information to the Chinese government or his former employers at Lippo during his tenure as a Commerce Department official in 1994 and 1995, before he joined the DNC. Nor, he said, did he have any knowledge that Clinton had made favorable foreign policy decisions in return for donations.

Waxman derided the committee’s investigation--which he said has generated 883 subpoenas from Burton, taken depositions from 160 witnesses and produced little new information--as partisan, incompetent and reckless.

Huang had pleaded guilty to funneling about $156,000 in reimbursed contributions from James Riady, a longtime friend of Clinton. He said Wednesday that he raised an additional $700,000 to $800,000 through the same Lippo conduit scheme when Riady reimbursed him for contributions that he and his wife made and when Huang helped reimburse others associated with Lippo for donations made in their names.

Asked why he agreed to break the law, Huang responded: “In human life, sometimes you have to make a decision in a crossroad. Maybe it was anticipated it would not be found out.”

He said that Riady promised Clinton during a limousine ride in Little Rock, Ark., in August 1992 that he would raise $1 million for the then-governor’s presidential bid. At the time, Riady, who had a home in Los Angeles, was a permanent resident of the United States, which made him a legal donor, Huang said.

He also said that “I don’t believe the president knew” Riady’s promise involved illegal foreign money.

Asked by Burton whether Riady mentioned anything specific that he sought in return from Clinton, Huang responded: “Oh no, no sir. He likes to help his friends.”

But Huang speculated that Riady was motivated by “multiple purposes.” Clinton was his friend and he wanted to gain status in Asia, access to a prospective U.S. president and benefit his businesses.

‘Very High Regard’ for Clinton, Gore

In his opening statement, Huang said that, “while things might have gone easier for me were I able to implicate the president or the vice president in wrongdoing, I never had a basis upon which to do so. In fact, I maintain very high regard for each of these dedicated men.”

He called the last three years “a terrible ordeal for me and my family and many Asian Americans.”

Huang has been sentenced to one year’s probation, a $10,000 fine and 500 hours of community service. Ty Cobb, one of his attorneys, said that Huang remains unemployed.

“He’s got to perform his community service before he can do anything,” Cobb said.

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Times staff writer David Willman contributed to this story.