EX-AIR FORCE GENERAL, BUSINESS PARTNER SAID TO HELP CARRY OUT IRAN INITIATIVE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100270008-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2011
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: December 5, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100270008-6
ARTICLE AIPPEAREO WALL STREET JOURNAL
ON PA~~" 5 December 1986
Ex-Air Force General, Business Partner
Said to Help Carry Out Iran Initiative
Mr. Hakim's has had dealings in recent,
years in South Korea and the Mideast.
While some reports have linked him with
Saudi Arabia which re
ort
dl
p
e
y was in-
,By DAVID RocERs and EDWARD T. POUND Some of the money moved through volved in some phases of the Iranian arms
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Switzerland as part of that scheme was de- deals, there is more evidence that he has
WASHINGTON-Communications inter- posited in the Geneva branch of Union de ties to Israel. "I am sure he is well known
cepted by the National Security Agency Banque Suisse. The same institution was to the Israelis," said one intelligence
snow that former Air Force Mai n. identified in a card carried by one of the source.
Richard Secord and his business partner, American fliers killed when a plane carry- Mr. Hakim's close ties to some pow-
Albert pave important roes be. ing weapons for the Contras fighting the erful military leaders in the regime of the
hind the sale of U.S. arms to Iran and th Nicaraguan government was shot down in Shah of Iran were disclosed in a 1983 dispo-
diversion of unds to Nicaragua inslur nt5 at country this fall. sition that he gave in a civil case in Con-
intelligence sources said. Thomas Clines a former Central Inte i- necticut. In the disposition, he testified
"Hakim and Secord are major actor nce ti to ee played at least a that he personally handled some of the
within this thing," said one source familiar tan ential role in assisting Lt. Col. North, payoffs to Iranian military officials and
with the intercepts, which complement a actor ing to sources. Like Mai Gea a used intermediaries to make others to win
paper trail of banking and corporate ties cord and Mr. Hakim Mblr Clines has a his- business for Olin. Olin officials denied that
running from the U.S. to Switzerland and tors of past associations with former CIA top management had knowledge of any im-
then back through Bermuda to Central agent Edwin Wilson, who was convict in proper payments.
America. The National Security Agency is 1982 of illegally exporting arms and explo- Confidential U.S. government files and
a government agency responsible for inter- lives to L-bva.
---?~- records in the civil case show that Mr. Ha-
cepting world-wide communications. A defunct company which Mr. Clines kimused .Swtisa ba0kaecounts in that pay-
The role played by Maj. Gen. Secord controlled pleaded guilty in early 1984 to off scheme. They show, for example, that
and Mr. Hakim is attracting increased at- filing false invoices with the Defense De- $670,000 went into a Swiss account con-
tention as investigators try to unravel the partment for transporting U.S. military trolled by the nephew of General Hassan
administration's complex and secret Iran- goods to Egypt. The plea was part of a set- Toufanian, who was the vice minister of
Nicaragua dealings. So far, the exact tlement of a case in which the government war and the Shah's chief arms procurer.
amount of money involved, and how it was alleged that an estimated $2.5 million from Mr. Toufanian couldn't be located for com-
diverted, remains unclear. But investiga- inflated billings had gone to Mr. Cline. ment.
tors believe the two men are part of a net- Reports this week about the flow of Mr. Hakim testified that another chief
work of private individuals tapped by funds from Iran tote Contras have o recipient of the payoffs was the late Gen
Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, a former Na- used on a single central n e i ence era) Mohammed Khatemi, the Shah's
tional Security Council aide, to carry out A enc account in Switzerland, where ini- brother-in-law who was the commander of
the secret policies. tial proceeds from the Iranian sales were the Iranian Air Force.
If you're going to bypass the bureau- deposited. But intelligence sources said the Mr. Hakim said in his deposition that he
cracy, you don't have a lot of alterna- the Iran-Contra operation quickly came to helped some officials hide their payoffs.
tives," said an administration official. involve accounts outside the CIA's control, One Iranian general, he testified, was re-
Administration officials say that Lt. as arms dealers learned about early arms luctant to open a Swiss account in his own
Col. North. in turning to private individ- shipments by the U.S. and sough to move name, so Mr. Hakim arranged to hold the
uals for help, was unable to control all as- in on the trade. money for him.
pects of the operation. "There's no way Ol- "The money moved with him (Se- "One of the reasons they leave their
lie could provide any systematic oversight cord)." said an -intelligence source famil- money with you is because they are not so-
of what was going on down there," said an- iar wit the National Security Agency in
--- tercepts_ phisticated yet to understand the banking
other [?.S. nffirial referrin
to th
g
e
oration H
Will
rd Z
cke M
uppl
H
..p
a
u
A
akim s attorney
e was spread too
. ,. thin." and a former director of the Investor Over-
Maj. Secord's military and intelli- seas Mutual Fund when it was run by in-
gence ac group is matched by Mr Ha- ternational financier Bernard Cornfeld,
kim s ing recor o business dealings i also appears to have played a part. Mr.
the Mideast and Switzerland. An Iranian- Zucker manages a Geneva firm, Compag-
born Jew, Mr. Hakim is described by one
former law enforcement official as having
"strong Israeli military-type ties." Both
men have declined to comment on their in-
volvement.
A representative for U.S. corporations
doing business in the Shah's Iran, Mr. Ha.
kim admitted three years ago in sworn tes-
timony that he routinely arranged to fun-
nel most of $6.1 million in commissions he
received from Olin Corp. to Iranian mili-
tary officials who helped award valuable
contracts to Olin's Winchester ammunition
division in the early and mid-1970s.
plained Mr. Hakim. "So they entrust with
you the money ... until such time that
they feel safe to take it. That's part of the
service given to them."
In addition to the complex job of trac-
ing the flow of Iranian ....,,....
r,
nts for
ato
rs fact a dawHUtg Lask
edly has an affiliate, CSF Investments, "+g
trying to determine where the
by separate attorneys in Ber- ally ended udetp funds actu-
registered . Intelligence sources dispute
muda. These companies were at least one recent suggestions rom within the Reagan
of the channels believed used to move administration that substantial sums were
funds to the Contras. diverted from the arms sales to covert op-
Mr. Hakim, who has had ties in the past orations in Afghanistan and Angola. But
with the CIA, has controlled a series of they also wonder how much money actu-
~nanies in Iran and Switzerland, but he ally reached the Contra supply operation.
currently is most identified in the U.S. with "If these guys got $10 million or more of
Stanford Technology rain. Now an new money, it didn't show," said one offi-
American citizen, he lives in northern Cali- cial.
fornia; Maj. Gen. Secord operates from a ALSO CONTRIBUTING TO THIS ARTICLE
hale at Stanford's Virginia offices. WAS JOHN WALCOTT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100270008-6