Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Deadline Nears for Whitewater Panel > LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- The federal grand jury > investigating President Clinton's dealings in Arkansas > reconvenes Tuesday with the deadline for its term > running out for Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr. > > Starr suggested two weeks ago that he might not need > another grand jury here. > > The panel, set to expire May 7, was empaneled two years > ago to continue the work of the original Whitewater > panel seated in 1994. > > The Whitewater investigation has produced charges > against 17 people, leading to 15 convictions including > former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and James and Susan McDougal, > Clinton's former Whitewater business partners. > > The current grand jury has produced no indictments. > > Recent grand jury witnesses have signaled prosecutors' > focus on legal work that first lady Hillary Rodham > Clinton did in the mid 1980s related to a failed real > estate development south of Little Rock called Castle > Grande -- the brainchild of McDougal. > > The investigation had cost taxpayers $35 million by the > end of September, according to an audit of the > independent counsel's expenses by the General Accounting > Office. > > Starr would not say Monday whether he would ask for > another grand jury or whether he was winding down his > operations in Arkansas. > > ``We're just continuing with our work. The assessment > process is under way,'' Starr said outside his Little > Rock headquarters. > > Tucker, who is cooperating with prosecutors after > pleading guilty to charges unrelated to his 1996 > Whitewater conviction, spent six hours before the grand > jury last month and said he would be back. > > Sources familiar with the case say Tucker, whose > dealings with McDougal led to their convictions on bank > fraud and conspiracy charges, may have information about > Mrs. Clinton's involvement in the project. > > Mrs. Clinton has said in sworn statements she recalls > almost nothing about her work on the project. > > Little Rock businessman Seth Ward and McDougal owned the > Castle Grande development, which failed at a cost to > taxpayers of nearly $4 million. The development was > financed almost entirely with loans from McDougal's > savings and loan. -- Two rules in life: 1. Don't tell people everything you know. 2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe, email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the body of the message enter: subscribe/unsubscribe law-issues
