TWO I.T.T. OFFICIALS ARE ACCUSED BY U.S. OF PERJURY ON CHILE

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030072-3
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RIFPUB
Original Classification: 
U
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1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 5, 2011
Sequence Number: 
72
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Publication Date: 
March 21, 1978
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OPEN SOURCE
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Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030072-3 ARTICLE APPEARED "iE NEW YORK TIMES nu ve r_r I C 'C) - March 1978 TWO 117, OFFICIALS ARE ACCUSED BY U.S. OFPERJURYONCHILB Justice Dept. Indicates No Criminal Charges Will, Be'.Brought Against Geneen, Company's Chairman WASHINGTON,. March 20-The Justice Department today charged two officials of the international" Telephone, and Tel graph Corporation with a total of 22 felo- ny offenses, .all of them stemming from their testimony to a Senate subcommittee about the company's involvement In the 1970 presidentiaf.election in Chile. The criminal informations accuse Ed- ward J. Gerrity' Jr., -54 years` old, of Larchmont, N.Y.,` 'and Robert- Berrellez, 58, of Chatsworth,. Calif., with perjury, obstruction of governmental proceedings and making false,statments?in a govern- ment matter. At the same time, in a prepared state- ment, the department indicated that It did not intend to bring-criminal charges against Harold S. Geneen, LT.T.'s chair- man, who was also,. being investigated because ofi' testimony he,- gave at' those same 1973 hearings.. ,Five-Year - Limitation: $tatet, au.~ In New York; I.T.T Issued a: statei iti saying the company was."conffident" that the. ,two executives "will be cleared." It added that "atifl:times our' executives have. cooperated ' ;with. the investigation "and have had the full--support-and back- ing of the corporation ?` t r It said that -LT.T. "continues to ha: confidence In Mr. Gerrity's and Mr.- Be :rellez's integrity. They both continue- t serve as-valued executives of LT.T.;' W :,are fullf- confident: they will .be. ,_foul . Berrellez,-,nor their attorneys .could r ay,ea:ivr-.wmn~ent. r 1 : 7.be 'criminal Information was filed. *the United States District Court h today at about 3 PIA, shortly before.th five-year statute of limitations. on the charges was scheduled to lapse. -It iaas-filed In the -same oourt where Richard-Helms, a former director of the Ceftirai Intelligence Agency, was permit- ?.ted last October to plead "no contest" to a misdemeanor charge stemming from his testimony to the same Senate sub- committee on the same issue. . Difference In Cases Seen Mr. Helms, who argued ' that as C.I.A. .director he had sworn an oath to protect intelligence secrets, was fined $2,000. which.was paid by former associates who tookup; a collection for him, and was Fgivezt sk suspended. two-year prison sen tense. } ' -Mr.- Gerrity, a senior vice president of rLTT:," faces maximum penalties of 30 years -in ;prison and, $23,000 In fines. Mr. Berrellez, i. LT.T.'s Southwest regional manager for public relations and civil af= :fairs; faces maximum penalties of -30. ,years in prison and $31,000 in tines. Although both Mr. Helms and the two, ITT Officials were charged with having misled the Senate Foreign Relations Corn mittee's Subcommittee on MultinationaU `Corporations on the nature of I..T.T an C.I.A. attempts to influence the 1970 Chi lean election, a Justice Department offi :vial said today that the--two cases were quite different. Benjamin E. Civiletti, the Acting Depu- ty Attorney. General, said that . the casei against Mr. Helms and the case against the I.T.T. officials involved "entirely dif- ' ferent facts, different circumstances and different, persons." Although he would not. elaborate on one was that Mr. Helms's oath, or at least "his interpretation of his Loath," put him in a different situation" than Mr. Ger- rity and Mr. Berrellez, who he said were' "private individuals [with a] private or- ganization." At one point while being' questioned. by reporters, Mr. Civiletti bristled slightly 'at a"suggestion that the' Justice Depart- 'ment 'ment had focused on "low-ranking peo- pie," rather than senior executives, such as Mr. Geneen., 'It Depends on the Facts' ` "The law doesn't depend on whether' someone is senior or junior," he said. 1 "It depends on the facts." However, the Senate subcommittee staff member who had handled much of the questioning of the I.T.T. officials said; he was "very disturbed that the depart ment didn't probe further Mr. Geneen's statements." staff but is now in private practice, said, that he believed Mr. Geneen "might be eligible for one of the great fiction prizes, something akin to the National Book. Awards." At the time of the hearings In Marchj and April 1973, the subcommittee, whicht was headed by Senator Frank Church,, Democrat of Idaho, was investigating I.T.T. and C.I.A. involvement in the 1970, elections in Chile. A subsequent investigation In 1975 byj the Senate Intelligence Committee, also, headed by Mr. Church, suggested that! both organizations were opposed to the election of the late Salvador Allende, a' Marxist who I.T.T. officials feared mighty expropriate some of the corporation's, properties there. ' It was also shown that the C.I.A. had funneled more than $8 million to oppo-' nents of Dr. Allende, who died during; a coup d'etat in September 1973 and that I.T.T. and the C.I.A. had cooperated to, some extent in developing their cam- paigns against him. ' Testimony to the Contrary At the time of the initial hearing, how i ever, there-was considerable- testimony i to the contrary by I.T.T. and, C.I.A. offi-; cials. Mr. Helms, for example, "said that his agency had not funneled any money to opponents of Dr. Allende. I.T.T. offi- cials testified that the C.I.A. had rejecsed' their offers- of help and that the only money spent during this period was-to, promote agriculture and housing-not to, block Dr. Allende. - There was some, confusion 'about pre-! cisely when'the statute of limitations was, due to expire in the matter. But a Justice; bepartm-ent` st okea tin;,-Robert Steven son, said it was either midnight tonight' or midnight tomorrow- - . The grand jury that bad" been 'hearing, evidence in the case for two -years ex-' _pired last month, and the Justice Depart- ment would have had to empanel another one to seek an indictment. Both men. however, had' waived their rights to - grand jury consideration ' of an indict ment, so the department was able to file . a criminal information, a.?.statement of charges usually received for misdemeanor cases. Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030072-3