Civilian on Sub, Marc Rich Linked
                       By CORKY SIEMASZKO
                        Daily News Staff Writer
 

                   One of the civilians aboard the submarine that sank a Japanese
                   fishing vessel is related to a Texas oilman and big Republican Party
                   contributor whose company once did business with fugitive financier Marc Rich.

                   Helen Cullen is the daughter-in-law of Roy H. Cullen, who in 1997-98 contributed
                   $25,000 in soft money campaign contributions to the Republican National
                   State Elections Committee, records show.

                   The Cullen family's company, Quintana Petroleum of Houston, also partnered with
                   Rich's Suedelektra Holding in Argentina during the 1980s, Platt's Oilgram News reported.

                   Rich, who fled to Switzerland in 1983 after being indicted on charges of tax evasion,
                   fraud and racketeering, was granted a controversial pardon by Bill Clinton.

                   Last week, after the Navy refused to release the names of the civilians aboard
                   the Greeneville when it crashed into the fishing vessel Ehime Maru on Feb. 9, a
                   Bush administration source told the Daily News there was a "tremendous amount of
                   nervousness at the White House about who these guys are."

                   Yesterday, The News asked a White House spokesman whether President Bush had
                   any personal or business relationships with members of the Cullen family.

                   White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "I'm not aware of any relationship."

                   Helen Cullen, who lives in Houston with her husband, Roy W. Cullen, could not be
                   reached for comment at home or at Quintana Petroleum.

                   It wasn't immediately clear what kind of venture Quintana Oil and Rich's company
                   were involved in.

                   Last week, the Navy conceded that civilians who had been invited to take a
                   ride on the Greeneville were at the controls at the time of the catastrophe.
                   Most of them were contributors to a fund to restore the battleship Missouri.

                   Yesterday, Navy submersibles searching the waters about 9 miles off the coast of
                   Oahu, Hawaii, broadcast the first images from the sunken ship — but there was no
                   sign of nine Japanese sailors whose bodies still have not been recovered. The
                   missing were among 26 people onboard the vessel at the time of the accident.

                   The captain of the Greeneville, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, and two other officers face a court
                   of inquiry at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Thursday. Waddle was relieved of his
                   command after the accident.

                   The court could make a range of recommendations, from a letter of reprimand to a trial
                   by court-martial. The court will include three U.S. officers, and Japan will be invited
                   to send an officer to participate as an adviser.