Time: Tue Mar 25 18:23:41 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA09786; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 14:58:26 -0700 (MST) by usr05.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id OAA06822; Tue, 25 Mar 1997 14:58:19 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 18:17:44 -0800 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: C-NEWS: Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Arms and Bribery at White House (fwd) <snip> >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >From: Max Kennedy <mkennedy@iglou.com> >Subject: Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Arms and Bribery at White House > >Unbelievable. Payed off to ship HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of dollars >of arms into the US. Fugitives running from smuggling cases. >Bribery at the White House. And this came out last Friday, and >no news story on network TV!!! > > It was a huge shipment of arms, about 100 containers, said Robert > Sanders, a Washington lawyer who was representing China Jiang An in > negotiations with the Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol > Tobacco and Firearms and the State Department over the weapons. It > was mostly ammunition, but there was about 100,000 automatic > weapons. Altogether it was a couple hundred-million dollar deal, > he said. > >Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/KARL STOLLEIS >March 14, 1997 >BY MICHAEL HEDGES >SCRIPPS-HOWARD NEWS SERVICE >WASHINGTON > >A massive shipment of Chinese guns and ammunition, which had been >banned by order of President Clinton, was approved for delivery into >the United States four days before the head of a major Chinese gun >company met Clinton in the White House. > >On Feb. 2, 1996, the federal government issued importation permits >for a multimillion dollar shipment of more than 100,000 >semiautomatic weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition. The >permits were for a company called China Jiang An to deliver arms >made by Chinese government owned arms manufacturers Norinco and Poly >Technologies. > >Four days later at the White House, President Clinton met Wang Jun, >chairman of the government owned conglomerate that runs Poly >Technologies. > >Wang was taken to the White House by Charlie Trie, a Little Rock >restaurant owner who tried to donate $644,000 to the Clinton legal >defense fund and had helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars >for the Democratic National Committee. President Clinton has said he >didnt know Wang Jun until the White House meeting and didnt >discuss business with him. > >The guns never made it into the country because Chinese government >officials involved in their import were, at about the same time, the >target of a massive federal sting operation. While the Chinese >companies were trying to bring guns in legally, there was a backdoor >operation to smuggle in other weapons involving executives of >Norinco and Poly Technologies, federal indictments charged. > >State Department and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms >officials said the issuing of permits after the ban was appropriate. >A bureau spokesman said the permits were issued under a 1994 >amendment that said Chinese guns in the pipeline for delivery before >the presidential ban would be allowed. But some experts found that >explanation unconvincing. > >It was a huge shipment of arms, about 100 containers, said Robert >Sanders, a Washington lawyer who was representing China Jiang An in >negotiations with the Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol >Tobacco and Firearms and the State Department over the weapons. "It >was mostly ammunition, but there was about 100,000 automatic >weapons. Altogether it was a couple hundred-million dollar deal, >he said. > >Sanders said he had been negotiating with U.S. officials for months >seeking clearance for the weapons to enter the country. > >All of a sudden there was a breakthrough, he said. I can't >account for it. > >Officials at China Jiang An, who listed an address in Michigan on >import permits, couldn't be reached for comment. > >Others were equally surprised. Another attorney said the government >was tying other arms importers in knots to keep guns out of the >country because the Clinton administration was opposed. > >All of a sudden the Chinese can bring in the largest shipment >anyone ever heard of, said the attorney, who asked not to be >identified. I was highly suspicious. > >As representatives of the Chinese gun companies worked to get the >guns approved, they were planning to sneak in other guns, according >to a federal indictment issued in May. > >Lu Yi Lun, identified as an assistant president of Norinco, was in >Washington in late 1995 and early 1996 working to secure import >permits, said American lawyers who met with him. > >Lu told associates that he was under pressure to get Chinese weapons >past the Clinton embargo and that he couldnt go home until the arms >shipment was approved. Just weeks later, Lu was named a central >figure in the indictment issued in the San Francisco gun smuggling >case. He is now a fugitive. > >A federal law enforcement official involved in a huge sting of >Chinese gun pushers said, I don't think it is farfetched to assume >these people (Chinese arms officials) were doing anything and >everything to get legal shipments approved. It was a major source of >hard currency for them. I can't explain why the government would >allow it to happen, especially with the president on record as >adamantly opposed to it. > >After the 1996 indictments, efforts to import the approved guns >stopped, according to attorneys. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and >Firearms said no weapons ever arrived under those permits, and they >expired last month. > >The smuggling case continues to cause alarm, however, and is being >discussed in the debate over whether to lease a closed Navy base in >Long Beach, Calif., to a Chinese government owned company. > >Wednesday, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., questioned the port deal and >raised the issue of Chinese gun smuggling. Are we allowing this >adjunct to the Chinese military to penetrate our country or >influence us? To me it's quite astounding there was no national >security review of this. > >The San Francisco indictments say Lu and others conspired to smuggle >2,000 machine guns and other munitions into the United States. > >William Schaefer, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said >Lu is an indicted defendant who is a fugitive so I am obviously >not in a position to comment about matters involving him. These were >weapons designated as military weapons which were illegal even >before the presidents ban of May 1994. > >The indictment said Chinese arms merchants, including Lu, had agreed >to deliver those weapons to undercover agents posing as members of >organized crime. In February 1996, just days after the White House >meeting, Lu and co-conspirators illegally imported the machine guns, >the indictment said. > >Federal enforcement officials were confident that they had >penetrated the upper echelons of the Chinese governments arms >industry, and planned to sting high officials before ending their >undercover operation. But word of the undercover operation leaked in >Washington. > >We had to end this at a very inopportune time, a top federal law >enforcement official said. Some of those indicted who are >fugitives (like Lu) would likely have been arrested. They benefited >from the leak of this story. > >Lu worked under Wang Jun at Norinco, officials said. >------- >To subscribe to c-news, send the message SUBSCRIBE C-NEWS, or the message >UNSUBSCRIBE C-NEWS to unsubscribe, to majordomo@world.std.com. Contact >owner-c-news@world.std.com if you have questions. > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this ========================================================================
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