The disclosures of the Reagan Administration recently that it approved covert shipments of American weapons to Iran “have no bearing whatsoever” on the prosecution of 17 defendants, including four Israelis, charged with conspiracy to sell American weapons to Iran, an Assistant U.S. Attorney told a court here Monday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lorna Schofied made the statement in her opening remarks at a pretrial motion hearing in Manhattan’s U.S. District Court. The defendants in the case face charges of conspiracy to resell $2.5 billion of American arms to Iran and of falsifying the documents needed to gain U.S. approval for the sales.
Schofield told Federal Judge Leonard Sand that she had discussed the case with Justice Department officials and people in the National Security Council who informed her that this case is not related to any of the covert arms shipments approved or orchestrated by the Reagan Administration.
Defense attorneys challenged the prosecution’s statement, noting a remarkable convergence of the accounts of defendants in the case and the events confirmed by the Reagan Administration and other sources in the past weeks.
CITES A ‘STARTLING OVERLAP’
Attorney Paul Grand, representing the alleged middleman in the conspiracy, Sam Evans, told the court there was a “startling overlap, coincidence and identity,” between what the defendants had said on tape and what was actually happening in government.
On the tapes recorded secretly from December 1985 to April 1986 with the help of an Iranian informant, Cyrus Hashemi, who posed as an Iranian arms buyer, the defendants said they believed the policy toward selling weapons to Iran was under evaluation within the government.
The defendants said they believed the Administration would approve the arms shipments. In a later tape, the defendants said the arms deal had been approved and that Vice President George Bush favored it, Secretary of State George Shultz was against but nevertheless it would go forward. These positions on the Iran policy within the Administration have also been confirmed, Grand said.
The defendants also said arms sales would be allowed only for the purpose of furthering contacts with Iran.
Sand did not rule on the attorneys’ motions which would require the U.S. Attorney’s office to produce evidence of what the Administration’s policy on shipping arms to Iran has been in fact for the past two years and not what the Administration purported it to be.
Sand told the defense attorneys that he was not certain that such material would be relevant to or would help the defendants’ case. He did not rule on the motion Tuesday but is expected to do so within the month.
William Kunstler, attorney for defendant Nicos Minardos, asked the court to produce the autopsy and toxicology reports on the government’s key witness, Cyrus Hashemi, who died in London apparently of leukemia in July. The U.S. Attorney’s office has said that its investigation indicated that Hashemi died of “apparently natural” causes. Kunstler indicated that it is possible that Hashemi was killed.
He noted that Hashemi’s death could only help the prosecution and hurt the defense because the defense would not have the opportunity to cross-examine the key witness.
Kunstler also made a motion to exhume Hashemi’s body to investigate the possibility of a murder. It was denied.
Hashemi, an Iranian expatriate, has emerged as one of the intriguing puzzle pieces in the case. Last week, press reports indicated that former U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson had arranged a contact between American officials and Hashemi last year in efforts to free American hostages in Lebanon.
According to defense attorneys in the case, Hashemi played a similar role in 1980 when the Carter Administration contacted him to expedite the release of the American hostages in the U.S. Embassy in Teheran. Hashemi was indicted in 1984 for selling American weapons to Iran, after an FBI surveillance of his room in 1980-81 revealed his activities.
Attorneys have said Hashemi made a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s office to act as an informant in this case in exchange for leniency on the 1984 charges.
REFERS TO AN UNCONFIRMED RUMOR
Kunstler referred to an unconfirmed rumor during the hearing. He suggested that a defendant named in the indictment, John de la Roque, who is still a fugitive, is really Lt. Col. Oliver North of the Marine Corps, a highly placed official of the National Security Council. North is reportedly one of the chief architects of the Iranian-U.S. arms exchange and often disguises himself and uses false names to conceal his identity.
On the tapes, the defendants discuss de la Roque’s role in the negotiations. He is said to be, on the tapes, a former member of the Delta Force who is very friendly with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. P.X. Kelley and with other top Administration officials. On one of the tapes, Evans told Hashemi that de la Roque met with Bush’s aides in West Germany to discuss the covert shipment of arms to Iran.
The defense attorneys also made motions to subpoena North, National Security Advisor John Poindexter, Bush and other government officials. Sand did not rule on this motion.
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