Officials of the Democratic National Committee helped a foreign businessman closely tied to Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha attend a White House holiday dinner with President Clinton last year, a few months after he contributed $460,000 to a voter registration group that won support from the DNC.

Chagoury was solicited by a DNC fund-raiser last fall to give to a Miami-based nonprofit voter registration group, Vote Now 96, that has come under scrutiny from Congressional investigators because of its connections to the DNC and indications that in some cases, at least, donors ineligible to give to the party were steered to the voters group. DNC officials attempted to divert one of Vote Now 96's large contributors to the reelection campaign of Teamsters President Ron Carey.

As a tax-exempt group, Vote Now 96 is supposed to be nonpartisan. Records show that much of the money it raised last year was directed to other nonprofits and voter registration groups. A lawyer for Vote Now 96 said its officials had never heard of Chagoury when he made three contributions in amounts of $200,000, $10,000 and $250,000 in September and October 1996. Though foreigners are barred from contributing to political parties, they may legally contribute to nonprofit groups. Efforts to reach Chagoury at his Paris home and through relatives in this country were unsuccessful.