Hong Kong China Limited

Hong Kong China Limited was a property investment and development company in Hong Kong controlled by the Riady family through the Lippo Group. On June 27, 1994, it paid the former Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell 99,985 dollars under a consulting agreement for which, the Independent Counsel found, Hubbell produced no substantive work.¹²

Ownership

A House committee, citing sources of 1995 and 1996, reported that Lippo owned 70 percent of Hong Kong China Ltd., "a property investment and development firm with $1.2 billion in assets," and 59 percent of the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, "a banking and finance firm with $2.3 billion in assets." The Office of the Independent Counsel described it as "a Lippo/Riady controlled entity based in Hong Kong" and as a subsidiary of the Lippo Group, of which James Riady was head. Its directors included David T. Yeh.¹²

The Hubbell Retainer

Hubbell announced his resignation from the Department of Justice on March 14, 1994, and left on April 8. He had known James Riady since the mid-1980s, when Riady came to Little Rock to set up an investment group to gain control of Worthen Bank. After announcing his resignation, Hubbell sought work from Lippo through Douglas Buford, a Little Rock lawyer, former law partner of the presidential adviser Bruce Lindsey, and a new client of Lippo; Buford passed the message to Lippo's representative John Huang. Huang also received a call from Buford, Mark Grobmyer or Joe Giroir explaining that Hubbell was in trouble and that his family needed help, and told Riady.²³

Hubbell's calendar records a meeting with Riady at the Hay-Adams Hotel at 7:30 in the morning of June 23, 1994. That morning Riady, Huang and Grobmyer met President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. According to Hubbell, Riady wanted a one-year agreement with a retainer of 100,000 dollars, payable quarterly. In a letter dated June 27, 1994, to "David T. Yeh, Director of Hong Kong China Limited," Hubbell wrote: "I am pleased to provide my consultant services to your company. As you know, I provide a broad range of consultant services including extensive expertise in capital markets, U.S. placements, A.D.R. and investments." He confirmed "the full range of my services for a fee of $100,000.00 per year payable in quarterly installments beginning on July 1, 1994." That same day Hong Kong China Limited wired 99,985 dollars into Hubbell's account at NationsBank in Washington, D.C. Hubbell said he was surprised that Riady had sent the full amount so soon.²³

The House committee reported that "the hiring occurred around the same time as John Huang finally was approved for a position at the Department of Commerce," and that "both Riady and Hubbell refuse to describe what services, if any, Hubbell performed." In September 1994 Hubbell and his wife traveled to Hong Kong, where he had several meetings in a large office building downtown "with the name Lippo prominently displayed," and then to Jakarta, where he met Mochtar Riady and the U.S. ambassador. Hubbell pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion in December 1994. He said he did no work for Riady after the plea, and none of the Lippo-related documents he produced showed any substantive work for Lippo. Clinton testified that he had no recollection of encouraging Riady to help Hubbell. The Independent Counsel concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove that the consulting payments Hubbell received from seventeen supporters of the President were intended to affect his cooperation with the investigation.¹²