One of Mr Clinton's old political cronies, Herby Branscum, a former chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, is accused with a fellow banker of funnelling $13,000 (£8,440) into the 1990 campaign for the governorship. At the time, Mr Clinton was in a corner, with his campaign hit by ferocious Republican advertising calling him a "raise and spend" governor. The cash infusion saved him. Tales from Mr Clinton's past are expected to feature heavily in the case.

Short and thickset, Branscum is a real Southern character. He was known in the one-horse town of Perryville, west of Little Rock, as "Boss Hogg" after the wily character in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard. Branscum is charged with the illegal use of deposits from his bank to contribute to the Clinton coffers and hiding the operation from federal regulators by cooking the books.

His lawyer, Dan Guthrie, predicted that prosecutors would go through "every alley and side street and make every detour they can to bring Bill Clinton into this case". For after the election, Mr Clinton appointed Branscum to one of the most lucrative patronage posts in the state, the prestigious Highway Commission that managed road construction and maintenance contracts.

Mr Clinton committed no crime in accepting the money but the question of the apparent quid pro quo is likely to raise comment about the "sleaze factor" in his past, especially as he is having to give videotaped evidence on July 7. Branscum is calling the idea of a deal "absolutely preposterous". Mr Clinton is planning to say the job was given to him "on merit". While it is common practice in America for a "rainmaker" such as Branscum to be given such a plum, the details are likely to be embellished by claims of money being hand-delivered to Mr Clinton.