The Swiss bank account of an Israeli arms dealer involved in the Iran-Contra scandal will be opened for inspection by U.S. investigators, a federal court in the Swiss city of Lausanne ruled Tuesday.
The court rejected the claim by attorneys for Yaakov Nimrodi that he had been operating officially for the Israeli government and was not involved in the Iran affair.
Nimrodi, a retired colonel in the Israel Defense Force, admitted having an account in the Swiss Credit Bank in Geneva.
It was used to transfer $1 million originating in Israel to the account of Lt. Col. Oliver North, a former aide on President Reagan’s National Security Council.
Those funds are alleged to have been used to finance a clandestine American arms shipment to Iran in 1985, when the United States officially maintained an arms embargo against Iran.
Nimrodi is suspected of having been a key figure in the illicit transaction.
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