The Republican Party acknowledged Thursday it has its own problem with foreign contributions as it gave back $102,400 funneled through a Florida subsidiary by a Hong Kong company.
In a statement, Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson said the party had no reason to believe the contributions made from 1991 to 1993 might be illegal until recent news stories reported that Young Brothers Development USA was a shell company controlled from Hong Kong.RNC lawyers verified late Wednesday that the corporate donations came from overseas, Nicholson said. "Upon learning those facts, we immediately returned the contributions, before the day's end," he said.
Another $20,000 from Young Brothers, which was divided between the GOP's Senate and House committees in 1994, hasn't been returned. Spokesmen for both committees said they hadn't yet determined whether that donation was also improper.