Charges said to be pending

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 6

Charges said to be pending

NZPA-Reuter New York The special prosecutor in the Iran arms scandal is expected to bring indictments that could include felony charges against senior Reagan Administration officials, the “New York Times” reported yesterday. The newspaper, quoting law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation, said Mr Lawrence Walsh, who was

appointed to investigate the sale of arms to Iran and diversion of funds to contra rebels in Nicaragua, was focusing on three areas. It identified these as conspiracy to defraud the Government, obstructing justice, and making false statements to the Government. The “Times” said Mr Walsh had not ruled out any suspects, including present and former

Government officials. However, the paper noted that Mr Walsh was under time constraints because Congress has begun granting immunity to key figures in the affair in order to speed congressional investigations. Such grants of immunity generally preclude prosecutors from using that material for criminal charges.

The “Times” quoted an official source as saying the investigation was focusing on a strong possibility of a broad criminal conspiracy involving administration officials and private citizens. It quoted one official as saying that, while obstruction of justice was usually hard to prove, evidence of a cover-up “may have been comically obvious here.”