Kennedy Implicated in China Money

Civic Economics - Page A1

March 22, 1997

SEN. EDWARD M. KENNEDY IMPLICATED IN WHITE HOUSE FOREIGN MONEY GRUBBING

By Howard Hobbs, JD, PhD Economics & Legal Editor
WASHINGTON DESK - It has come to light on Friday that senator Edward M. Kennedy(D) hired Tamraz as his own election campaign fund-raiser. Kennedy's wife also represents Tamraz in legal matters.
Mrs. Edward M. Kennedy, was hired as an attorney in the law firm of Marvin Rosen, a DNC finance chairman and also a Kennedy fund-raiser.
The involvement of Kennedy's wife raises serious questions of conflict of interest in the way both the Senator Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy were dealing with Tamraz.
Congressional investigators said they may examine whether Tamraz hired Mrs. Kennedy in hopes of influencing her husband, perhaps on an oil pipeline deal. Tamraz, now in Paris, could not be reached for comment.
Jim Manley, the spokesman for Kennedy, said there was 'no conflict' in the Kennedys dealings with Tamraz who is wanted on an arrest warrant for bank fraud in the Middle East. Manley said Mrs. Kennedy's legal work for Tamraz was not related to Tamraz's effort to build an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, although Manley wouldn't say what she did or exactly when.
But that's not the story Tamraz was telling Thursday when he was quoted in USA Today saying that he '...hired Mrs. Kennedy and another lawyer to try to recover assets in Lebanon.'
Bothe the senator and Mrs. Kennedy declined to comment yesterday. Kennedy's office at first tried to keep private the fact that Mrs. Kennedy did legal work for Tamraz. When asked about it by the Globe on Wednesday, Manley said her clients were 'confidential' and '...she and the senator would not discuss the matter.
Yesterday, however, Manley confirmed the connection, saying' 'There was no conflict of interest, no mingling of the two.' He said 'Mrs. Kennedy generally doesn't discuss her clients with her husband.'
Tamraz has become a key player in the fund-raising controversy because of the way he won access to the White House after making big donations to the Democratic Party. Tamraz, who is wanted on embezzlement charges in Lebanon, met with President Clinton only after an unnamed Democratic Party official got the CIA to send an approving memo about Tamraz to the White House. The matter played a role in Anthony Lake's decision to withdraw his nomination as CIA director earlier this week.
As reported by the Daily Republican on Thursday, Tamraz and his colleagues at Oil Capital gave $5,000 to Kennedy, and Tamraz has personally met with the senator. Manley said yesterday Tamraz also served as a fund-raiser for the senator,handling him $25,000 and then being invited to attend a campaign fun-raising event at Kennedy's home.
In his private meeting with the senator, Tamraz asked for Kennedy's 'support' for a Caspian Sea oil pipeline, Manley said. However, it is not known if Kennedy traded quid-pro-quo favoring Tamraz after the payment to Mrs. Kennedy of the $25,000 payment.
However, it has been verified by officials that Mrs. Kennedy legal work for Tamraz March 1996, after the Kennedy meeting with Tamraz. Under such circumstances the Kennedy's involvement may prove to be another political debacle for the Clinton administration because Mrs. Kennedy worked at Rosen's law firm, and Rosen was the DNC finance chairman during last year's campaign which has been a major fund-raiser for Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy has now left the law fir, according to Globe sources. P>The law firm has attracted the attention of congressional investigators who are examining whether Rosen used his fund-raising contacts to get clients. Rosen declined to be interviewed.
In 1995, Tamraz arrived in Washington trying to push his pipeline plan. Energy Department officials dismissed the idea, but Tamraz sought a meeting with Clinton.
Tamraz donated $70,000 to the Democratic National Committee and urged officials to arrange a meeting with the president. Donald Fowler, then the DNC chairman, called White House officials to press Tamraz's case.
When that failed, White House officials called the CIA to get a favorable report on Tamraz delivered to the White House. An intelligence official yesterday confirmed there was contact between the Democratic Party and the CIA about Tamraz.
Tamraz first met Kennedy at a fund-raiser at the senator's home in October 1995, Manley said. Tamraz later asked to meet privately with the senator to discuss the oil pipeline deal. Kennedy then met with Tamraz on Dec. 7, 1995.
Later, when the favorable CIA document was delivered to the White House, Tamraz saw the president at an April 1, 1996, coffee. Attending the same coffee was Eric Hotung, a Hong Kong businessman who recently purchased Kennedy's Virginia estate for $6 million - $1 million more than the asking price.

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