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Hillary returns $850 000
11/09/2007 19:47 - (SA)
Washington - Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is to return $850 000 in campaign funds collected by a Hong Kong businessman detained on fraud charges, her office said on Tuesday.
Norman Hsu surrendered to police on August 31 having been on the run from Californian authorities since 1992, after he failed to show up at a hearing into fraud charges against him.
Hsu, a naturalised US citizen who originates from Hong Kong, had helped to collect thousands of dollars at state and federal level for Clinton's campaign coffers since 2003.
His name recently appeared on the list of the Democratic Party's 20 top donors and several Democratic party politicians, including Clinton and her nearest rival for the 2008 nomination, Barack Obama, have said they would either return the money he collected or give it to charity.
"In light of recent events and allegations that Mr Norman Hsu engaged in an illegal investment scheme, we have decided out of an abundance of caution to return the money he raised for our campaign," Clinton's spokesperson Howard Wolfson said in a statement.
"Despite conducting a thorough review of public records, our campaign, like these others, were unaware of Mr. Hsu's decade-plus old warrant."
He added some 260 donors would receive refunds totalling about $850 000. The same donors could, however, choose to make out a new check for Clinton's campaign.
- AFP
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