Hillary8217;s indictment likely

WASHINGTON, May 19: US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton could be indicted in the Whitewater land deal, Deputy Prosecutor in the investigat...

WASHINGTON, May 19: US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton could be indicted in the Whitewater land deal, Deputy Prosecutor in the investigation John Bates has told a federal appeals court, ABC-TV reported.

Bates told the appeals court, according to an audiotape ABC-TV managed to obtain, 8220;we certainly are investigating individuals, and those individualsincluding Mrs Clinton could be indicted.8221;

However, ABC did not reveal how it got the audiotape.

Any kind of recording, except by court stenographers, is barred in all Federal Courts.

In the past, Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W Starr has stopped short of saying that he has enough evidence to indict President or Hillary.ABC said on Saturday that Bates made his remark about Hillary8217;s potential criminal liability while in court to obtain notes involving her Whitewater discussions with government lawyers.

The White House has refused to honour subpoenas sent by Starr for notes taken on July 11, 1995 by White House associate counsel Miriam R Nemetz on Hillary8217;s activities in the days immediately after the death of deputy White House counsel Vincent W Foster, Jr., and on January 26, 1996 by White House special counsel Jane Sherburne on the discovery of missing Rose Law firm billing records in the White House living quarters.

A Federal Court judge in Little Rock, Arkansas, upheld the White House8217;s claim of attorney-client privilege in withholding the notes but that ruling was overturned by the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which said that the privilege did not apply to notes on the Whitewater investigation Whitewater relates to a land development in which the Clintons were among the partners.

Story continues below this ad

The White House has appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court.

David Kendall, Hillary8217;s attorney, said he could not react to the comments of a sealed transcript. 8220;To say that Mrs Clinton is the subject of investigation is obvious, but to imply there is any real basis for it is ridiculous,8221; he added.

Senator Orrin G Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on CNN-TV that he hopes that the First Lady would not be indicted. 8220;It would not be good for the country,8221;he said. 8220;I personally would just as soon not have that happen. But if they the charges against her were blantly accurate facts, that8217;s another matter. I mean nobody can flout the law in this society today,8221; he said.