Hillary denies role in pardons

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, FEB. 23. The Democratic Senator from New York and former First Lady, Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton has emphatically denied any involvement in the pardons granted by her husband, the former President, Mr. Bill Clinton.

Ms. Clinton told a press conference that she was not aware that her brother, Mr. Hugh Rodham had lobbied on behalf of two persons. Saying she was ``very disappointed'' on learning that he had been paid $400,000, Ms. Clinton maintained that she had not spoken to her brother since the news broke out and did not intend to. The Senator, who was calm at the press conference, also said she was unaware that her campaign treasurer had been involved in preparing papers for other people seeking pardons. The Associated Press reported on Thursday that her campaign treasurer, Mr. William Cunningham was involved in last minute pardons for two convicted felons.

Ms. Clinton refused to get into the merits of the pardons of her husband saying all questions on the subject were to be addressed to the former President and his staff. She also declined to answer if Mr. Clinton should appear voluntarily before the Congressional committee now investigating the pardons. The last minute pardons of Mr. Clinton have been in the news for the last four weeks and much of the controversy revolves around the pardon for the fugitive financier, Mr. Marc Rich, whose former wife, Ms. Denise Rich has been a generous donor for the Democratic Party. On Thursday, the Clinton Presidential Foundation confirmed that Ms. Rich had made three contributions to the Foundation between 1998 and 2000 totalling $450,000.

Apart from the pardoning of Mr. Rich which has been criticised even by prominent Democrats, the Clintons have especially been troubled by the involvement of Mr. Hugh Rodham. Mr. Rodham apparently returned his ``success fee'' at the insistence of the Clintons. Mr. Rodham had worked on the cases of Mr. Almon Braswell and Mr. Carlos Vignali. Both the Braswell and the Vignali cases had sparked interest in the media. In the case of Mr. Braswell it was because the pardon was granted after January 20 and it became known that the businessman was under investigation on new allegations. In the case of Mr. Vignali, the prison sentence commutation came under fire from prosecutors.

``This was a straight up drug dealer, a source of cocaine, proven at trial, convicted by a jury and sentenced to a fair sentence,'' the former prosecuting attorney, Mr. Todd Jones remarked. Mr. Clinton issued 140 pardons and 36 commutations just before leaving office on January 20, 2001. While the new President, Mr. George W Bush has refrained from commenting on the controversy, the House and the Senate are looking into the pardons and a criminal investigation is on. At his first press conference on Thursday, Mr. Bush declined to elaborate on the pardons, saying once again that it was time to ``go forward''. He added that his advice to his own family members would be ``Behave yourself - and they will''.

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