PROSECUTION SEEN POSSIBLE UNDER RANGE OF LAWS; INDEPENDENT COUNSEL URGED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710009-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: November 26, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710009-1
~,:~S~I.~NrPt:~~AR~Q WASHINGTON POST
ON PA~~`- --~t~ -~ 26 November 1986
Prosecution Seen Possible Under Range
of Laws; Independent Counsel Urged
By George Lerdner Jr.
w.,,n,~,~"n rau sau wmer
Attorney General Edwin Meese
III said yesterday that the Justice
Department is trying to determine
whether any U.S, laws were broken
in the international shell game that
transformed U.S. arms for Iran into
$10 million to $30 million worth of
cash for the contras in Nicaragua.
But legal experts and administra-
tion critics said they.felt sure there
are more than enough criminal stat-
utes on the books to provide for
prosecution. They also suggested
that an independent counsel-not
the Justice Department-ought to
be making the determination.
"These dealings not only raise
very serious questions regarding
transfer of arms to Iran, they also
raise the real possibility that officials
at the highest levels of the executive
branch have violated federal law,"
House Judiciary Committee Chair-
man Peter W, Rodino Jr. (D-NJ.) and
Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.) said in a
letter to Meese. "The credibility of
the president and his ability to gov-
ern are threatened .... An indepen-
dent investigation is the only way to
restore the confidence of the Amer-
ican people," they wrote.
According to Meese, Lt. Col. Ol-
iver L. North, the key National Se-
curity Council staff member in-
volved in the secret operation,
"knew precisely" about the arrange-
ment whereby Israeli intermedia-
ries evidently marked up the prices
on $12 million worth of arms that
they shipped to Iran and then fun-
neled the profit to Swiss bank ac-
counts for the contras fighting the
Nicaraguan government.
There was widespread agree-
ment on Capitol Hill that this vio-
fated the spirit and probably the
letter of the Boland Amendment
that remained in effect in varying
forms from October 1984 to last
month. It was aimed at bamng the
Central Intelligence Agency, the
Defense Department and "any- oth-
er agency or entity of the United
States involved in intelligence ac-
tivities" from using any funds-oth-
er than those explicitly earmarked
by Congress-to support, directly
or indirectly, military or paramil-
itary operations in Nicaragua.
The law, however, contains no
explicit penalty provisions. Legal
experts said yesterday that other
statutes would have to be used if
anyone were to be prosecuted.
They cited many possibilities.
"if there's one thing about the
federal criminal code," said Steven
R. Ross, general counsel to the
clerk of the House, "it covers sit-
uations where people are trying to
hide things or fool other govern-
ment agencies. The law has many
weapons to attack that with."
Re .John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.),
chetrman o t e ouse u ic~ary
su ommittee on criminal ~ustice,
sa t roug an aide that he had
our statutes to mtn tat he in-
ten omen n o ustice
partment next week in a formal re-
port, including one whose most fa-
mous wor oust the 1974 Wa-
ter ate cover-u trial o 'dent
Richard M. ixon's to aides.
--~tis t e catc to ederal conspir-
~~l_aw Prohibiting two or more
rsons from cons irin "either to
commit anv o erase against the
United States, or to defraud the
raft fates or an a enc there-
o u1 any manner or or any pur-
1~
-Tt was applied, successfully, at
the cover-up _ to a cons~iracv to
dTrau~ t ie ~e eral B f In_
~ves gates IA and the ustice
pa went o t e govertunent's
artments and a n '
t eu o icial business honesti r and
tmparUa y, ree rom corruption,
fra unproper an
ence, dishonesty, unlawful impair-
ment a traction "
ithout more facts, former at-
torney general Benjamin Civiletti
said he could not say "what the par-
ticular remedies are for this partic-
ular tricky business." But he said
that for laws that include no specific
penalty provisions, 'you have to
look at the general laws-to find
out whether or not there's been a
conspiracy to violate a law of Con-
gress or whether there's been a
breach of goverrunent duty."
"There's no easy answer,"
Civiletti said. "It could be a civil
wrong or it could be a criminal
wrong. The question of intent has a
lot to do with it."
Conyers led 11 House members
last month in calling for an indepen-
dent counsel (formerly known as a
special prosecutor) to investigate
North and others for their contro-
versial dealings with the contras. In
renewing that call yesterday, he
also cited a criminal law forbidding
misuse of public money, a federal
fraud and false statement statute.
and a statute outlawing false state-
ments.
"Somewhere along the line,
somebody must have filed some pa-
per to get this deal moving," said
former House counsel Stanley M.
Brand. "The failure to characterize
what was really going on could be a
crime .... If the situation is bad
enough, somebody will find a law to
which it applies."
"I'm sure a serious prosecutor
wouldn't have any trouble coming
up with a long list of laws that have
been violated here," said Morton
Halperin, Washington director of
the American Civil Liberties Union,
which joined in the calls for an in-
dependent counsel. He said it is im-
portant that the counsel's mandate
be broad enough "to cover all as-
pects of our secret dealings with
Iran and all U.S. aid to the contras,
including the private stuff," assist-
ance ostensibly provided by private
parties.
Staff writer Mary Thornton
contributed to this report.
Cor+tinua~
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09 :CIA-RDP90-009658000403710009-1