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Show Thursday, September HUD secretary - WASHINGTON Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros said Wednesday he gave honest answers to FBI questions on financial support he provided a former girlfriend and expects a federal investigation to vindicate him. "The review that is under way will determine in the final analysis that I was forthright at Cisneros said at a every sir-,news conference. "I have no fear that any new information is there that hasn't been borne " out." Justice Department investigators are trying to determine whether Cisneros, during a background check for his Cabinet nomination, misled FBI agents who questioned him about money he had given to Linda Medlar. Cisneros said he did not try to mislead anyone about Medlar. "The decisionmakers had in their possession, from myself and other sources, all of the information that these tapes and a review of the facts later will bearout,"hesaid. Medlar, a former political aide who lives in Lubbock, Texas, sued Cisneros for fraud and breach of contract, claiming he reneged on an agreement to pay her $4,000 a month in compensation after their extramarital affair became public in 1988. Medlar declined to comment on the Justice investigation. "Ms. Medlar does not know what Mr. Cisneros told either the Clinton people or the FBI," said her attorney, Bruce Mag-nes- s. "All she knows is how he acted in his dealings with her." Cisneros denies having an says By TOM COHEN Tutu shot back quickly, telling The Associated Press on Tuesday that the nation's first black president was "showing he's just like Associated Press Writer JOHANNESBURG, South Africa Nelson Mandela campaigned for president on a promise his African National Congress would stop the "gravy train" of government corruption and special agreement, and says he sought jobs for Medlar and gave her money out of compassion. He is scheduled to give a deposition in the case on Oct. 12, Magness said. privileges. Now critics, even his supporters, are charging that the ANC only wanted to stop the train long enough to get on. Medlar contends that Cisneros has paid her about $200,-00a figure Cisneros has not disputed. His attorney, Seagal Wheatley, said Cisneros has been uncertain of the precise amount he paid Medlar because he didn't keep accurate records. Cisneros' Washington attorney, Cono Namorato, declined to comment on Medlar's lawsuit but said Cisneros intends to cooperate fully with the Justice investigation. Wheatley said Tuesday he is certain there is no evidence that Cisneros misled FBI agents. Cisneros is the third Cabinet secretary to come under federal scrutiny. An independent counsel is investigating whether Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy 0, Mandela's uncharacteristic "A respected leader was unable to resist the temptation to jump on the bandwagon," Mandela said of Tutu, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work against apartheid. "I consider it an act of irresponsibility on his part." violated federal law by accepting gifts from groups that are regulated by his agency. An MOSCOW Even as President Boris Yeltsin was in Washington touting Russia as a safe place for investors on Wednesday, the ruble took its steepest and most unsettling dive in months. "This summer there was some stability," said Larisa Petrova, who sells American soft drinks outside a downtown bank that exchange posts the ruble-dollar rate in six window. a h inch-hig- digits in the "Now we're hoping it won't be roller coaster again. You get tired, not knowing what will pen hap- tomorrow." The ruble fell to 2,631 to the dollar Wednesday, from 2,476 a y day earlier, the steepest plunge since January and the second sharp drop this week. The currency has lost 20 percent of its value this month, prompting speculation over the Central Bank's refusal, or inability, to continue its practice of propping up the reserves. ruble with Although the ruble rate has dropped steadily against the dollar over the past few years, for most of this year the decline was slower than inflation. That means the real value of the Russian currency was rising. Fpr Russians, this made importlike Petrova 's soft ed goods more affordable, and drinks confidence in the ruble appeared to rise a bit this summer. Polls indicate people have begun inputting more money in savings it stead of spending immediately. And some people who used to rush to exchange their ruble earnings for dollars are now holding onto the rubles instead. But much of the ruble's recent stability has been subsidized by Central Bank reserves, and this month the bank balked. It has spent one-da- hard-curren- cy "In terms of the people out there, new government. After taxes, Mandela will take home about $115,400. Members of the new parliament up get salaries of about $54,400 from $37,300 under the old government. While such figures don't seem excessive by Western standards, they stand out in a country where millions of impoverished blacks stop the gravy train," said an editorial by Business Day, a Johannesburg newspaper. Mandela has tried to show he isn't interested in setting up a special children's fund with $42,250 of his own money almost one-fift- h of his salary which he said he will contribute each year. He called on other leaders to take voluntary pay cuts. all-ra- ce prickliness on the issue shows his sensitivity at being perceived as just another politician raiding the public coffers. On Monday night, he lashed out at longtime ally Archbishop Desmond Tutu for complaining about the new parliament's approval of large salary increases for itself. living in shacks without power or running water voted for Mandela to change their lives. any other politician." "I'm sad, but in a way you've got to say it is good for democracy that even people who like one another can differ," he said. The salary plan, devised by an independent commission appointelection ed before the first in April, set the president's salary and benefits at the equivalent of $22 1,000 a year. Under the former white-le- d government, President F.W. de Klerk was paid about $81,700 a year. However De Klerk paid no income taxes, an exemption lifted by the Page A7 it was one of the most inappropriate things to have done," Tutu said. "It's filled people with some disillusionment. ' ' Other complaints have focused on a plan, since withdrawn, for government officials to pay personal aides well above the normal civil service salaries. And a decision to give political parties $845 per parliament member to set up constituency offices was condemned as plundering tax dollars. "The scheme is a major blunder from a government trying to persuade a sceptical public that it will On Mandela's order, Finance Minister Chris Liebenberg, a member of the commission that recommended the new salaries, is study ing possible pay cuts . Parliament, meanwhile, has proposed a rigid code of conduct for lawmakers, requiring them to give up directorships and other posts that could create a conflict cf interest. Trade and Industry Minister Trevor Manuel of the ANC was criticized for traveling on the Co corde from Britain to the United States instead of taking a less" expensive flight. It came out laterthat former Finance Minister JJCr rek Keys, a holdover from the apartheid government, did the - same. If pressed on the controversy Mandela blames the legacy of privileges left by the National Party. He told a labor conference last month that advisers warned him against cutting salaries of civil service and other government workers, presumably including the military, because they would revolt. earlier probe into whether Commerce Secretary Ron Brown accepted money from the Vietnamese government to help lift trade sanctions ended with no charges being filed. President Clinton has not commented on Cisneros' troubles, although White House Chief cf Staff Leon Panetta said last week that the president has expressed confidence in both Cisneros and Espy. federal inquiry The centers on taped conversations between Cisneros and Medlar, in which they fretted over whether his nomination as secretary of housing and urban development would be derailed once FBI agents learned of the payments. 30-da- GET YOUR "JUST REWARDS FROM (UNIQUE y Ruble takes steep dive By JULIA RUBIN Associated Press Writer THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Utah, Mandela disputes charges of corruption he was honest with FBI By SONYA ROSS Associated Press Writer 29, 1994 O about $2 billion since August to slow the ruble's slide, bringing reserves down to about $5 billion, bank officials say. "If they start intervening actively, their reserves will run out in two weeks," said Ilya Khokhry-akoa dealer at Tokobank. On Wednesday, a Central Bank 1 5 v, spokeswoman declined to com- ment. But bank officials insist they haven't abandoned the ruble, and are facing seasonal pressures. The government typically injects more rubles into the economy in the fall to pay for the harvest, fuel, and supplies for the climacti-call- y harsh Far North. But the ruble's fall could signal a change in government policy, some say. "The Central Bank has pulled out of the game," said Igor Doron-ichief analyst at the Moscow UJ n, o Interbank Currency Exchange. "There's a massive speculative play under way on the dollar's Z u rise." One trader said the government wants the ruble to lose value so it can collect more taxes from exporters, who pay a percentage of the ruble value of their foreign currency earnings. An opposite version says the Central Bank wants to give exporters a boost, since a stronger ruble has made Russian exports more costly overseas. Russian shoppers have come to depend on imports, which become more expensive as the ruble's buying power decreases. Inflation, about 100 percent annually, has halved the ruble's worth since the end of last year. Petrova said she'll probably raise her soft drink prices soon, from 1 ,200 rubles a can. That was worth only about 45 cents Wednesday, but 48 cents the day before. Many shoppers, however, are indifferent to the currency market's ups and downs. 9. E c Jm. 5 - - " , ! V, It's Clinique Bonus Week! Just what you need, just when you need it. A special Clinique treat. "Just Rewards." r. Just g favourites in a all this week And it's rewards for face and body. your 1 with Clinique purchase of 3.50 or more. take-alon- caddy-organize- any Here's what you get: Terracotta Long Last Lipstick, colour that resists fade. Bronze Lilac h Almost Lipstick, a mauve glaze with a satin-- y golden down-to-eart- frost Aloe Body Balm, refreshingly lightweight moisturizer with aloe to help soothe dryness. skin's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, moisture "drink." 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