HELENA -- Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., met with the sister-in-law of a Marianas man and client of confessed criminal Jack Abramoff in the weeks before Burns received a $5,000 donation from the man and reversed his position on a bill Abramoff opposed, a newspaper has reported.

Burns met with Rita H. Inos, commissioner of education for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory near Guam, in early April of 2001, according to the Saipan Tribune, a newspaper on the largest Marianas Islands.

The meeting was apparently part of a 15-minute meeting Burns had with Inos and then-Speaker of the House Benigno Fitial, on April 3, 2001.

Inos is the sister-in-law of Eloy Inos, an executive of the Tan Holdings Co., which owns garment manufacturing among other businesses and is the largest employer on the islands, according to a reporter for Pacific Magazine, a Hawaii publication that covers the Pacific region

Eloy Inos made a $5,000 campaign contribution to Burns on April 20, 2001. A little more than a month later, in May of 2001, Burns voted against a bill the Saipan Garment Manufacturers Association had hired Abramoff to kill.

Tan Holdings is a member of the association and Eloy Inos is a past officer, according to the association's Web site.

Burns spokesman James Pendleton said Tuesday the senator didn't know who Rita Inos was related to when he met with her, nor did he know about Fitial's connection to Abramoff.

"Conrad doesn't check genealogy, nor does he do background checks before he meets with people," he said.