
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 19, 1993                   TAG: 9312190194
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

INVESTIGATORS SEEK FILE OF DEAD CLINTON AIDE

Investigators are trying to learn if a missing file on a former business associate of President Clinton was taken from the office of a White House aide after he committed suicide, The New York Times reported today.

Federal investigators have been told that Vincent Foster Jr. kept a file in his office on James McDougal and Whitewater Development Corp., McDougal's real estate investment firm, the Times reported.

Foster committed suicide on July 20.

The file was not listed in an inventory of his office that was conducted two days after his death, the newspaper said, quoting anonymous law enforcement sources.

It might have been turned over to Foster's widow in a box of personal items that was given to the family's lawyer, one source said.

A senior White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Times that all files in Foster's office were properly handled and the White House was unaware of the inquiry into the The law enforcement officials said their inquiry was being hampered by a lack of cooperation from the White House. They did not say how they learned of the missing file. file's location.

The law enforcement officials said their inquiry was being hampered by a lack of cooperation from the White House.

They did not say how they learned of the missing file.

Whitewater was a joint venture entered into by Clinton, his wife, Hillary, and McDougal and his wife, Susan, in 1978 to develop land in Arkansas.

McDougal, who was once an economic adviser to Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas, eventually left government and bought a small savings and loan association, Madison Guaranty.

He built it into one of the largest state-chartered associations in Arkansas before it failed in 1989, costing taxpayers about $47 million.

McDougal was acquitted in 1990 of charges related to the failure.

But federal investigators are now looking into the failure of Madison and its dealings with Whitewater, including the possible improper use of depositors' funds for contributions to political campaigns.

by CNB