BILL CLINTON’S financial health, and that of his wife, has been transformed since his scandal-filled and legally expensive presidency ended.

Since leaving the White House, the former President and first lady have made nearly $40 million (£24.5 million) from speaking engagements and book deals, but have still not settled their legal debts.

Mr Clinton was paid $9.5 million last year for making speeches around the world, adding to nearly $9 million he received for lectures in 2001, according to his wife’s financial disclosure form.

Mrs Clinton, now a New York senator, is obliged to file annual asset and liability reports, the latest of which was made public last month.

Mired in at least $11 million of debt on leaving the White House, due mainly to fighting lawsuits related to the Monica Lewinsky and Whitewater scandals, the Clintons are now both multimillionaires.

However, their lawyers are still waiting to be paid in full for their work on the cases. The couple still owe between $1.7 million and $6.5 million in legal fees to four firms, according to Mrs Clinton’s financial disclosure.

Up to $5 million is owed to the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly, where David Kendall, their chief defence lawyer, works.

Files for 2001 show that the couple paid $1.3 million in fees. This year no indication is given for how much was paid in 2002. “They have made significant payments,” Karen Dunn, Mrs Clinton’s spokeswoman, said. “The total amount they owe this year is less than they owed last year.”

Mr Clinton gave 60 speeches in 23 countries last year. His standard fees in the US were $100,000 or $125,000, and between $150,000 and $250,000 for foreign engagements. On November 19 in Mito City, on the outskirts of Tokyo, he spoke to 1,700 school pupils, attended a dinner and a political discussion the next morning, and flew away with $400,000.

The Clintons have up to $5 million in a joint account and up to $5 million in a blind trust. Mrs Clinton makes $150,000 a year as a senator. Mr Clinton draws a $166,000 presidential pension.

Mr Clinton is also believed to have been assured of a $10 million advance from the publishing house Knopf for his memoir. Mrs Clinton, whose recently published memoir sold more than a million copies in its first month, has so far been paid half her $8 million advance from Simon & Schuster.

Mrs Clinton owns a $2.8 million house behind the British Embassy in Washington. The couple also own an 11-room Dutch colonial house in the affluent Chappaqua district of New York, which they bought in September 1999 for $1.7 million.

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