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Rich knew of pardon 'before US officials' By Philip Delves Broughton

THE wife of Marc Rich, the billionaire fugitive controversially pardoned by President Clinton, has disclosed how she and her husband were told of the decision two hours before the Justice Department.

Gisela Rich said they were telephoned at their home in Switzerland by the head of the Rich Foundation in Israel, Avnery Azulay. By hiring lawyers who had worked closely with Mr Clinton in the past, Mr Rich received special treatment from the White House, which completely by-passed normal Justice Department procedures.

The pardon soured Mr Clinton's departure from the White House and is regarded with contempt even by once loyal Democrats. Mrs Rich's disclosure in an interview with the magazine Vanity Fair further clouds what is already a murky business.

Despite Mr Clinton's denials, many suspect that the pardon was granted solely as a favour to Mr Rich's ex-wife, Denise, a friend of the Clintons and generous contributor to their various causes. She has given millions of pounds to the Clintons' political campaigns and to Mr Clinton's Presidential library.

Past and present Israeli prime ministers had been lined up to lobby Mr Clinton for the pardon. In her first interview since the scandal, Denise Rich, who also spoke to Vanity Fair, gave few details about her ex-husband's pardon, which she urged Mr Clinton to grant on several occasions.

However, she does say that the Clintons' decorator sent a list round to their friends, while they were still in the White House, asking for furniture and gifts for their new home in Chappaqua.

Mrs Clinton's office previously denied the existence of such a list in an effort to play down the impression that the couple were trawling for gifts. Since the pardon scandal, Mrs Rich has not heard from her once great friends.

Mrs Rich, who is worth more than £150 million from her marriage to Rich and now writes pop songs, says she was persuaded to help her ex-husband, from whom she had a bitter divorce, after their daughter Gabrielle died of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1993.

Rich was unable to see his daughter in America before she died without running the risk of spending the rest of his life in jail. However, her death persuaded Mrs Rich to move on and forgive her former husband.

The current Mrs Rich, Gisela, tells the magazine that the pardon was not a quid pro quo for Denise Rich. She says: "She likes the Democrats and she contributed for years and years and years. And that has nothing to do with Marc."

Mr Rich fled the United States in 1984 after he was charged with involvement in what investigators described as America's biggest tax fraud. He has since lived in Switzerland, having renounced his US citizenship. His multi-billion-dollar fortune was made in commodities trading.

According to Vanity Fair, Mr Rich had been trying to buy a pardon long before Mr Clinton granted him one. Howard Safir, formerly the head of the US Marshals Service, said he attended a spy exchange in the late Eighties when an East German lawyer offered "$250 million on behalf of Marc Rich".

Other sources claim that Adnan Kashoggi, the Saudi arms dealer, interceded with Mr Clinton on Rich's behalf. Despite all that has happened, Denise Rich insists that her friendship with the Clintons "went beyond" money.

While denying rumours that she and the former President had an affair, she says he is "a very spiritual person". She explained: "He has so much charisma. Who wouldn't be attracted?"

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2001