Whitewater Report Finds Insufficient Evidence of Wrongdoing by Clintons

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 21, 2002

Whitewater Report Finds Insufficient Evidence of Wrongdoing by Clintons

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In the final report on the Whitewater scandal, an independent counsel said Wednesday that there was insufficient evidence to prove former president Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, were guilty of wrongdoing.

The five-volume report, released by Independent Counsel Robert Ray, wrapped up a six-year probe over the Clintons' finances, with a focus on the ill-fated Whitewater land deal linked to the collapse of an Arkansas savings bank.

The report concluded that James and Susan McDougal, owners of the failed bank, wrongly used funds from their bank to benefit the Whitewater venture that they had created with Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, and Mrs. Clinton, then a lawyer.

"The independent counsel determined the evidence was insufficient to prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that either Governor or Mrs. Clinton knowingly participated in any criminal conduct... or knew of such conduct," the report said.

The McDougals were convicted of crimes and imprisoned in the investigation in connection with the Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan bank.

As for Hillary Clinton, now the U.S. senator from New York, the report said the evidence was insufficient to prove she knowingly gave false statements to investigators about her work related to Madison Guaranty.

The investigation, which cost about 70 million U.S. dollars, began in 1994. The New York Times revealed the business connection between the Clintons and the McDougals during the 1992 presidential campaign.

A succession of three prosecutors investigated the Clintons' finances -- Robert Fiske, Kenneth Starr and Ray.

Ray, who resigned last week after the release of his final report on the Monica Lewinsky investigation, said in that report that there was enough evidence for him to prosecute and probably win a conviction against Clinton about his relationship with the former White House intern.

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