Clinton aides to appear at Rich pardon hearing

Three of Bill Clinton's White House aides will be subpoenaed over Marc Rich's pardon.

Three of Bill Clinton's White House aides will be subpoenaed over Marc Rich's pardon.

The investigating panel had asked them to testify at the first hearing last week, but none of them appeared.

John Podesta, Beth Nolan and Bruce Lindsey are due at the next hearing on March 1.

The questioning will reach into the George W Bush administration this time, with the committee likely to call Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, one of Rich's former lawyers.

The House Government Reform Committee also asked Bill Clinton and Marc Rich to release all their aides and lawyers from any executive privilege so they can testify without betraying any confidentiality oaths.

Mr Rich was wanted on charges of evading $48m in taxes, fraud and participating in illegal oil deals with Iran.

He was indicted in New York in 1983, shortly after he fled to Switzerland.

The pardon on January 20 was one of 141 by Bill Clinton, who also commuted the sentences of 36 others on his final day in office.

Committee spokesman Mark Corello commented: "We're also asking Mr Rich, if he has nothing to hide, to let his counsel speak freely and that goes for the documents that have been claimed by them as well."

The subpoenas come as a lawyer announced she had opened a criminal investigation into whether money played any role in Mr Clinton's last-minute pardon.

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