SELECT PANEL FINDS NO EVIDENCE OF CONTRA DRUG TRAFFICKING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89T00142R000700920025-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: August 26, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/08: CIA-RDP89T00142R000700920025-5
ARTICLE Al' ON PA 1
ON PAGE 4-.-
WASHINGTON TIMES
26 August 1987
Select panel finds no evidence
of Contra drug trafficking
U.S. officials aoa citizens
'exhaustively examined'
By Mary Belcher
THE VASHNGTON TIMES
The Iran-Contra investigative
committee has found no evidence to
support allegations that Nicaraguan
Resistance leaders were involved in
drug smuggling.
In a memo released yesterday,
committee investigators said they
"exhaustively examined" the role of
U.S. officials and private citizens in-
volved with the resistance forces, as
well as that of rebel leaders.
The probe included interviews
with hundreds of people in the
United States and Central America
and reviews of their files and other
documents.
"Despite numerous newspaper
accounts to the contrary, no evi-
dence was developed indicating that
Contra leadership or Contra organi-
zations were actually involved in
drug trafficking;' wrote investigator
Robert A. Bermingham in a July 23
memo to Iran-Contra committee
leaders.
"There was no information devel-
oped indicating any U.S. government
agency or organization condoned
drug trafficking by the Contras or
anyone else;' Mr. Bermingham
stated.
Committee investigators did not
address allegations of drug smug-
gling by Nicaragua's Marxist San-
dinista government.
Mr. Bermingham recommended
that the Iran-Contra panel defer to
ongoing investigations by indepen-
dent counsel Lawrence Walsh, the
Senate Foreign Relations Commit-
tee and the House Judiciary Com-
mittee's crime subcommittee.
Committee spokesman Robert
Havel said panel leaders will follow
Mr. Bermingham's recommenda-
tions and cooperate with the ongoing
probes.
The Iran-Contra investigators re-.
viewed files from the State, Defense
and Justice departments, and from
the CIA, FBI, National Security
Council, Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration and Customs Bureau.
They also interviewed Nicara-
guan resistance leaders and exam-
ined their bank records.
"Examination of Contra financial
records, private enterprise business
records and income tax returns of
several individuals failed to locate
any indication of drug trafficking;'
Mr. Bermingham said.
He said nearly all of the allega-
tions "originate from persons in-
dicted or convicted of drug smug-
gling:'
"Justice has stated that such
persons are more and more
claiming, as a defense, that they
were smuggling for the benefit of
the Contras in what they believed
was a U.S. government-sponsored
operation;' he said.
"Typically, they furnish no infor-
mation which can be corroborated
by investigation."
Mn Bermingham said the Iran-
Contra panel's investigation did not
examine whether resistance forces
have been "independently or indi-
vidually involved in drug traffick-
ing.
He said the Senate Foreign Rela-
tions Committee and the House
Select Committee on Narcotics
Abuse and Control have been exam-
ining such allegations.
Alan Fiers, chief of the CIAs Cen-
tral American task force, told the
committee in private testimony re-
leas yesterday that no CIA offi-
cers or U.S. officials were involved in
dr_uutrat' ficking.
But he said members of one-time
rebel-leader en Pastora~q -
ization did engage in coc tiny smug-
gling. Mr. Fiers said that w s one of
severe reasons the United Crares
severed ties with the Pastor group.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/08: CIA-RDP89T00142R000700920025-5