Donor to Democrats Sentenced

For Yogesh K. Gandhi, a California entrepreneur desperate to arrange a photo opportunity with President Clinton for a controversial Japanese spiritualist in 1996, the cost was high: a $325,000 contribution to the Democratic Party.

Now, 3 1/2 years later, Gandhi is to pay yet another price: a one-year prison term.

Closing one of the strangest and most sordid chapters in the Democratic fund-raising scandal, Gandhi was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to prison and ordered to pay more than $237,000 in back taxes to the IRS. He pleaded guilty in June to mail fraud, tax evasion and using funds from a foreigner to make a campaign donation.

The charges of tax evasion and facilitating an illegal campaign contribution arose from the May 1996 donation to the Democratic National Committee; it was one of the largest it received. Gandhi, a native of India who lives in Walnut Creek, was charged with mail fraud for signing the name of a business associate to an application for a corporate American Express card.

A great-grandnephew of Mohandas K. Gandhi, Yogesh Gandhi worked with Democratic fund-raisers Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie and John Huang to give Clinton a life-size bust of the late leader in India’s quest for independence during a party fund-raiser at a Washington hotel. Trie and Huang have pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations unrelated to the Gandhi donation.

The peace award was presented by Hogen Fukunaga, a Japanese multimillionaire who claimed to possess extraordinary spiritual powers and had sought legitimacy worldwide with Gandhi’s assistance. Investigators found that Gandhi received two $250,000 wire transfers from bank accounts of a Fukunaga associate in Japan shortly after he made the contribution.

Gandhi met briefly with Clinton at a private ceremony although the White House had previously declined the award. Clinton aides said that Gandhi’s foundation was “not a reputable organization” and that Gandhi would “take advantage” of a session with the president.

The Democratic National Committee returned the $325,000 one day after Clinton was reelected in November 1996, after questions about Gandhi were raised by The Times.

Gandhi had capitalized on his famous ancestor for years through the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation. It presented the peace award to other prominent people, including President Ronald Reagan, former Russian President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and the late Mother Teresa.