New York: Bankrupt energy giant Enron, whose links with the Bush Administration have generated a controversy, had close ties with the regulators in the administration of Bill Clinton as well, a media report said.

Quoting documents obtained by it, US magazine 'Time' said long before Vice-President Dick Cheney's task force met with Enron officials and included their ideas in the Bush energy plan, President Bill Clinton's team was doing much the same thing.

Clinton administration sought Enron's input in drafting a 1995 plan to help facilitate cash flow and credit for energy producers.

The Energy staff was directed to "rework the proposal to take into account the specific comments and suggestions you made", Clinton Deputy Energy Secretary Bill White wrote to an Enron official, 'Time' said.

Clinton officials also made efforts to help Enron get business overseas, the report said, citing the example of Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary, who included Enron officials on trade missions to India, China, Pakistan and South Africa.

Bill White, returning from a 1994 trip to Mexico, wrote to Enron chairman Kenneth Lay that there was "much opportunity" there for natural gas, and also sent a copy of Mexico's energy plans.

To convince an Enron senior vice-president to join a mission to Pakistan, White wrote, "I have strong personal relationships with the existing government."

In return, Enron donated an unknown sum of cash in O'Leary's name to a charity. And when Clinton ran for re-election a year later, the company made its largest single contribution ever, $ 100,000 to the President's party.

PTI