The House and Senate committee investigating the Iran-contra affair voted Thursday to grant limited immunity to former National Security Council aide Oliver North, despite objections by Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh.
However, North will not be questioned in public before July 16, giving Walsh an additional three weeks before placing under seal the evidence he has gathered of criminal wrongdoing by North.
Sealing the evidence before North testifies would allow Walsh to use it in prosecuting North even if the former White House aide disclosed the material under the immunity grant.
The committees` decision to seek limited, or ”use,” immunity from prosecution must be approved by a federal judge before immunity is granted.
Walsh pleaded with the panel Wednesday to delay granting immunity while he pursues his criminal investigation of North. But after Thursday`s decision, Walsh said in a statement: ”I greatly appreciate the consideration extended to my office by the select committees. The precautions they have taken . . . will reduce as much as reasonably possible any adverse affect on our investigation.”
In another development Thursday, a committee member disclosed that retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord withdrew more than $80,000 from his $1.5 million share of the Iran arms sale profits and bought a Porsche sports car, a Piper Cub airplane and a trip to a ”fat farm,” or weight-reducing clinic. The trip was made with Thomas Clines, a former CIA agent, who was also involved in the arms shipments and the effort to supply Nicaraguan rebels.
The disclosures by Sen. Paul Trible (R., Va.) cast doubt on previous testimony to the committee by Secord that he never used assets from the arms sale for personal benefit and had retired from the armed forces in dire financial straits with only $5,000 in his bank account.
”Notwithstanding his public statements, Gen. Secord withdrew nearly $100,000 from monies generated from the sale of arms to Iran,” Trible said after Thursday`s hearing, at which Secord`s business partner, Albert Hakim, testified. ”The expenditures raise additional questions about the credibility of Mr. Secord.”
Trible held out the possibility that Secord may be recalled by the panel to explain the discrepancies between his testimony and the finding of committee auditors. Hakim, who became a business partner with Secord after the two men worked on an unsuccessful plan to free U.S. hostages being held in Lebanon, has provided the committee with a number of financial documents that cast doubt on Secord`s testimony.
”These were personal transactions,” Trible said when asked if Secord might have purchased the airplane for use in the secret effort to resupply the Nicaraguan contras. ”It was a Piper Cub, which means it was for personal use,” Trible said.
Meanwhile, Washington lawyer David Lewis told the committees he was asked to find a way money could be gotten to North`s wife–secretly, ”because of his sensitive position” in the White House. Lewis said he was approached by Willard Zucker, who ”essentially was looking for a cover” to get money to Betsy North. Zucker was Hakim`s financial manager.
Lewis said Zucker asked him last Oct. 10 at a meeting in Geneva how money intended for North could be channeled to Mrs. North.
Lewis said Zucker told him the money had been earned but that it could not be paid directly because the person was in a sensitive position.
”I asked who the person in the White House was,” Lewis said. ”To the best of my recollection, he said it was Lt. Col. Oliver North.” During later questioning, Lewis conceded he clearly remembered the reference to the White House, ”to someone`s wife” and a military person, but ”the reference to the name is less certain.”
Nothing came of the conversation, Lewis said.
During his second day of testimony before the joint congressional committee, the Iran-born Hakim detailed his efforts to open a channel of communications with Iranian officials. He laid out a plan he said he hoped would free U.S. hostages being held in Lebanon and create investment opportunities in Iran through which he stood to make ”many millions of dollars.”
Hakim said he was recruited for the effort by Secord, who told him the plan had been authorized by President Reagan and was being directed by North. Hakim, who speaks Farsi, the Iranian language, said he was able to establish contact with an influential Iranian official and set up negotiations at which he masqueraded as the President`s ”special interpreter.” He had been asked not to identify the official at the hearings.
He said the negotiations were attended by North, Secord, a CIA agent and two other Iranians with business interests in the matter.
He said the effort to free the hostages initially collapsed because
”North`s interest was too narrow. We were attempting to re-establish relations with Iran, but he kept focusing on the release of the hostages. He said he wanted to gain the release of the hostages before the election to enhance the President`s chances for re-election. That was North`s main driving force.”
When a seven-point plan offered by North was rejected by the Iranians, North said he intended to fly back to Washington immediately and report that the mission had failed, Hakim testified.
Hakim said he asked North to allow him to try to salvage the negotiations and that North told him he had six hours, the time it would take for North to fly back to Washington. Hakim, a businessman and private citizen, was left alone to negotiate on behalf of the U.S. government, he testified.
HEARING HIGHLIGHTS
— Thursday`s Witnesses: David Lewis, an attorney with knowledge of dealings by Albert Hakim and others, testified in the morning. Hakim, an Iranian-American arms dealer, continued his testimony in the afternoon.
— Key disclosures:
( ) The congressional committees investigating covert military assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan rebels voted to grant fired White House aide Lt. Col. Oliver North limited immunity from prosecution in order to compel his testimony.
( ) Retired Maj. Gen. Richard Secord, contrary to his testimony, used some of the profits from the sale of arms to Iran for his personal use–to buy an airplane, a sports car and sessions at a spa, according to Sen. Paul Trible.
— Best quote: ”When I am invited to go to the situation room, and I sit down and I see a phony passport prepared for me by the CIA, and I attend a number of meetings, all kinds of doors are opened to me for various negotiations, I don`t limit that to Colonel North and General Secord.” –Hakim, on whether top White House officials knew of his activities.
— Next witnesses: Hakim continues his testimony with limited immunity.
— Time: 8:00 a.m.
