Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004080192
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Oliver North former National Security Council aide, found guilty at a jury trial May 4 of three felonies - aiding and abetting the obstruction of Congress, destroying official documents and accepting an illegal gratuity - and sentenced to two years probation, fined $150,000 and ordered to perform 1,200 hours of community service. He is appealing the conviction, the fine and probation while serving the community service in an anti-drug program.
Robert McFarlane former national security adviser, pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors of withholding information from Congress by denying that the NSC staff was soliciting support for the Contras' military activities and helping move supplies to the rebels and denying that he knew anything about third-country financing of the Contras. Was placed on two years' probation, fined $20,000 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service.
Richard Secord a retired Air Force major general, pleaded guilty Nov. 8 to lying to congressional investigators when he said he wasn't aware of any money that went to the benefit of North from the maze of companies known as "the Enterprise," which Secord had used in the Iran-Contra affair. Sentenced to two years probation.
Carl "Spitz" Channell pleaded guilty to using his non-profit National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty to raise more than $2 million to buy weapons for the Nicaraguan rebels. Sentenced to two years probation for conspiring to defraud the Treasury of taxes due on the money raised with North's assistance. Richard Miller head of a Washington public relations company, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of taxes on contributions used to supply military aid to the Contras. Sentenced to two years probation.
Albert Hakim Iranian-born businessman who with Secord ran "the Enterprise," pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of aiding and abetting in supplementing North's income by paying for a security fence at North's home. Hakim was fined $5,000 and sentenced to two years probation Feb. 1. He agreed to forgo his claims on more than $7 million in profits from the Reagan administration's Iran arms sales. Also, a company he set up, Lake Resources, pleaded guilty to theft of government property in connection with Iran arms sale money diverted from the U.S. government. The judge ordered that company be dissolved.
Joseph Fernandez former CIA station chief in Costa Rica, charged with obstruction and making false statements in connection with his assistance to North's Contra resupply network. The judge in the case said the charges must be dismissed due to the attorney general's ban on the use of classified material Fernandez needs for his defense. Iran-Contra prosecutors are appealing.
Former CIA agent Thomas Clines indicted for allegedly failing to report some of his income to the Internal Revenue Service that he received for working for North's Contra resupply network. Clines, a business partner of Secord and Hakim, has pleaded innocent and is scheduled to go on trial May 14 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Clines located a European arms dealer as a source of weapons for the Contras and helped arrange for shipping and lined up crews to transport the supplies to the rebels.
by CNB