The United States Attorney and the FBI office in New York have opened an investigation into former President Bill Clinton's pardons of fugitive financier Marc Rich and his former business partner Pincus Green.
The probe is the latest blow to Clinton, whose Washington departure has been marred by criticisms of the last minute pardons, furniture taken from the White House and an attempt to rent expensive Manhattan office space.
"Various questions have been raised concerning the activities and pardons of Marc Rich and Pincus Green," a brief statement said, adding that the US Attorney and FBI "have opened an investigation to determine whether there have been any violations of federal law."
The statement was issued one day after unnamed federal officials reported that White's office had begun to probe whether there may have been any illegal payments of money to get the pardon for Rich, who fled to Switzerland 17 years ago to avoid prosecution on more than 50 counts that included evading $US48 million ($NZ112.958 million) in income tax, racketeering, and illegal oil trading with Iran.
Questions have mounted in recent weeks about possible connections between the pardon, granted in the final hours of Clinton's presidency, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations made by Rich's ex-wife, Denise.
News of the investigation prompted Dan Burton, chairman of House of Representatives Government Reform Committee that is investigating the pardon, to delay his request that the Justice Department grant Denise Rich immunity for her testimony.
Denise Rich has refused to answer 14 written questions submitted to her by the committee, claiming her constitutional right against self-incrimination.
The Manhattan US attorney's office had brought the case against the billionaire financier in 1983. White, a Clinton appointee, was infuriated by the pardons that were announced January 20 and a spokesperson for her office immediately issued a statement about her disapproval of clemency for Rich and other defendants prosecuted in New York.
"We were totally unaware that pardons for Marc Rich and Pincus Green were even under consideration," White said at the time. "The Department of Justice was also bypassed in a number of other clemency applications for defendants from this district."
Since then she has continued to criticise the pardon, pointing out that her office was never consulted.
Rich, 66, could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted. He never returned to the United States. Switzerland does not recognize tax evasion as a crime and has refused to extradite him.
The pardons have also drawn the ire of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was the Manhattan US attorney at the time of Rich's indictment.
"There's no question there has to be an investigation of this and I think the first day I heard about it I urged a congressional investigation," Giuliani told reporters during his daily media briefing.
Giuliani said that after two congressional hearings "no reasonable explanation has emerged as to why this pardon was given" and he added, "as it gets explained it seems to get more complicated and it seems to raise more questions as to why anyone would pardon a fugitive."
Giuliani dropped out of the Senate race last year against Hillary Rodham Clinton, who went on to win in November and become the first first lady to hold public office. On Wednesday night, Clinton issued a statement saying he decided to pardon Marc Rich on the merits of the case.
"As I have said repeatedly, I made the decision to pardon Marc Rich based on what I thought was the right thing to do," Clinton said. "Any suggestion that improper factors including fund-raising for the DNC or my library had anything to do with the decision are absolutely false. I look forward to cooperating with any appropriate inquiry."
The criminal probe of Bill Clinton's pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich may hinge on whether prosecutors can prove bribes or misrepresentations influenced the former president's decision, legal experts said.
One former federal prosecutor said US law forbids giving something of value "corruptly" with the "intent to influence a public act" but there would have to be a close enough link between the Rich's donations and the pardon to establish they were bribes. "That might be hard to prove given her long history of giving contributions to the Democrats," he said.
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