ITT INDICTMENT IS CUT BACK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030075-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 75
• Publication Date: August 19, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207RO01000030075-0
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE A-1,12
THE WASHINGTON POST
19 August 1978
ITT. Indictment
Is Cut Back
By Charles R Babcock
Washington Post Staff WAtOr .,
The Justice Department is drop.-
ping three of six felony charges
against a top executive of Interna-
tional Telephone and Telegraph
Corp. because of fears that nation
al secrets would be 'exposed at ,
the trial-"~'?
A prosecutor told U.S. Distric#
Court Judge. Aubrey;..E._ Robinson,
;
Jr. yesterday-without explanation
-that: the government would. not
proceed' oh: three counts of. the-'
indictment that accuses Edward J '
Gerrity Jr., a senior vice president
of ITT, of lying. about his -firm's
involvement in influencing- the
1970 presidential election in Chile..
A Justice Department spokes- .
man said .;later that the three
counts -are being dropped "follow-
ing a?.. determination that informa
tion. essential to the prosecution
of those counts could not be used
as evidence and made public because
the protection of the information is
vital to safeguard national security
and U.&- foreign intelligence interests."
Three substantive charges against
Gerrity remain. Officials refused to
say yesterday whether. they are, think
ing_ about dropping the entire case.
"Cases like this are- under constant
review,". spokesman .Terrence ; B.
Adamson said.. . ,:
A similar -concern-t: about possible
disclosure of top-secret information
was cited. last fall, when . the. Justice
Department, chose to-,let former CI k
director Richard 1VL.Helms plead "no
contest" to a misdemeanor change
growing out of the same investigation
of ITT-CIA involvement in Chile.
When Gerrity and"another,ITT offi
cial, Robert Berrellez, were indict
in March; the Justice Department ex`
pressed confidence that it' had fas
ioned a case, that would: stand
against expected defense demands: for
access to intelligence ,documents.
The first sign of the change :came
late Thursday afternoon when prose-
cutor G. Allen Carver. Jr. -told attorney
Walter J. Bonner that the government
would not prosecute his client, Gerrity,
on .charges of perjury 'i'nducing anth-
er ITT official to lie,. and making fal
statements before a 1974 arbitration
board ' considering.;. ITT_ insurance
claims,,-for;, confiscated~;p~rgperty:4 '
r?~-':'Lcn,m.> f.=,,:
In open court, yesterday morning, I
Carver repeated that promise, though
he said he did not yet have- the auth-
ority to move formally to dismiss the
three counts. He said the case was
being reviewed "at a higher level of
government"
The, government declined to drop
similar counts in the companion indict-
ment of Berrellez during an afternoon
pre-trial hearing.
But the same potential' problems in-
volving-defense access to. classified
CIA material were-touched on by the
Berrellez attorney, Patrick A. -Wall.
He complained that the CIA had made
.heavy -deletions on handwritten notes
he had taken from documents that al-
'ready, had been censored. .
"I 'cannot abide being. preventedt
from preparing a defense in this case,"II
Wall said, waving what he said weret
.22 pages' of censored notes. "The gov-
,ernment said -there was' no-, national
security in this case." .
Carver:countered'that'the govern-
ment had given Wall-all the'classified
documents. hem-was entitled to.:But
Judge Robinson .said. the defense - at-
torney should return, to the. CIA and
review the .documents again so he
could prepare a sealed motion justi-
fying his claim to their relevancy.
Robinson deferred ruling on the' de=
fendants' motions that-the 'the differentl
counts in'the Indictment' be dismissed
for legal weaknesses:
But he said at the end of -the debate
over access to CIA material: "The gov
ernment plays games at its peril."
The ITT cases revolve - around _testi-
mony Gerrity and - Berrellez gave in
early 1973 before the Senate Foreign
Relations- subcommittee -on - multina-
.tional corporations. The subcommittee
`was investigating allegations that ITT
collaborated with the CIA in trying to
prevent the 1970 election of. socialist.
Salvador Allende in Chile.. - . -
Allende . won the :election but was
killed' in a-, 1973 coup. d'\-
Gerrity. ;and. Berrellez'=''are charged.
with lying when they-said ITT did not.
,offer financial. aid to Allende's,op
.,f,:
Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207RO01000030075-0