TWO I.T.T. OFFICIALS ARE ACCUSED BY U.S. OF PERJURY ON CHILE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030072-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 72
• Publication Date: March 21, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030072-3
ARTICLE APPEARED "iE NEW YORK TIMES
nu ve r_r I C 'C) - March 1978
TWO 117, OFFICIALS
ARE ACCUSED BY U.S.
OFPERJURYONCHILB
Justice Dept. Indicates No Criminal
Charges Will, Be'.Brought Against
Geneen, Company's Chairman
WASHINGTON,. March 20-The Justice
Department today charged two officials
of the international" Telephone, and Tel
graph Corporation with a total of 22 felo-
ny offenses, .all of them stemming from
their testimony to a Senate subcommittee
about the company's involvement In the
1970 presidentiaf.election in Chile.
The criminal informations accuse Ed-
ward J. Gerrity' Jr., -54 years` old, of
Larchmont, N.Y.,` 'and Robert- Berrellez,
58, of Chatsworth,. Calif., with perjury,
obstruction of governmental proceedings
and making false,statments?in a govern-
ment matter.
At the same time, in a prepared state-
ment, the department indicated that It
did not intend to bring-criminal charges
against Harold S. Geneen, LT.T.'s chair-
man, who was also,. being investigated
because ofi' testimony he,- gave at' those
same 1973 hearings..
,Five-Year - Limitation: $tatet, au.~
In New York; I.T.T Issued a: statei iti
saying the company was."conffident" that
the. ,two executives "will be cleared."
It added that "atifl:times our' executives
have. cooperated ' ;with. the investigation
"and have had the full--support-and back-
ing of the corporation ?` t r
It said that -LT.T. "continues to ha:
confidence In Mr. Gerrity's and Mr.- Be
:rellez's integrity. They both continue- t
serve as-valued executives of LT.T.;' W
:,are fullf- confident: they will .be. ,_foul
. Berrellez,-,nor their attorneys .could
r ay,ea:ivr-.wmn~ent. r
1
: 7.be 'criminal Information was filed.
*the United States District Court h
today at about 3 PIA, shortly before.th
five-year statute of limitations. on the
charges was scheduled to lapse.
-It iaas-filed In the -same oourt where
Richard-Helms, a former director of the
Ceftirai Intelligence Agency, was permit-
?.ted last October to plead "no contest"
to a misdemeanor charge stemming from
his testimony to the same Senate sub-
committee on the same issue. .
Difference In Cases Seen
Mr. Helms, who argued ' that as C.I.A.
.director he had sworn an oath to protect
intelligence secrets, was fined $2,000.
which.was paid by former associates who
tookup; a collection for him, and was
Fgivezt sk suspended. two-year prison sen
tense. } '
-Mr.- Gerrity, a senior vice president of
rLTT:," faces maximum penalties of 30
years -in ;prison and, $23,000 In fines. Mr.
Berrellez, i. LT.T.'s Southwest regional
manager for public relations and civil af=
:fairs; faces maximum penalties of -30.
,years in prison and $31,000 in tines.
Although both Mr. Helms and the two,
ITT Officials were charged with having
misled the Senate Foreign Relations Corn
mittee's Subcommittee on MultinationaU
`Corporations on the nature of I..T.T an
C.I.A. attempts to influence the 1970 Chi
lean election, a Justice Department offi
:vial said today that the--two cases were
quite different.
Benjamin E. Civiletti, the Acting Depu-
ty Attorney. General, said that . the casei
against Mr. Helms and the case against
the I.T.T. officials involved "entirely dif-
' ferent facts, different circumstances and
different, persons."
Although he would not. elaborate on
one was that Mr. Helms's oath, or at
least "his interpretation of his Loath," put
him in a different situation" than Mr. Ger-
rity and Mr. Berrellez, who he said were'
"private individuals [with a] private or-
ganization."
At one point while being' questioned.
by reporters, Mr. Civiletti bristled slightly
'at a"suggestion that the' Justice Depart-
'ment 'ment had focused on "low-ranking peo-
pie," rather than senior executives, such
as Mr. Geneen.,
'It Depends on the Facts' `
"The law doesn't depend on whether'
someone is senior or junior," he said. 1
"It depends on the facts."
However, the Senate subcommittee
staff member who had handled much of
the questioning of the I.T.T. officials said;
he was "very disturbed that the depart
ment didn't probe further Mr. Geneen's
statements."
staff but is now in private practice, said,
that he believed Mr. Geneen "might be
eligible for one of the great fiction prizes,
something akin to the National Book.
Awards."
At the time of the hearings In Marchj
and April 1973, the subcommittee, whicht
was headed by Senator Frank Church,,
Democrat of Idaho, was investigating
I.T.T. and C.I.A. involvement in the 1970,
elections in Chile.
A subsequent investigation In 1975 byj
the Senate Intelligence Committee, also,
headed by Mr. Church, suggested that!
both organizations were opposed to the
election of the late Salvador Allende, a'
Marxist who I.T.T. officials feared mighty
expropriate some of the corporation's,
properties there. '
It was also shown that the C.I.A. had
funneled more than $8 million to oppo-'
nents of Dr. Allende, who died during;
a coup d'etat in September 1973 and that
I.T.T. and the C.I.A. had cooperated to,
some extent in developing their cam-
paigns against him. '
Testimony to the Contrary
At the time of the initial hearing, how i
ever, there-was considerable- testimony i
to the contrary by I.T.T. and, C.I.A. offi-;
cials. Mr. Helms, for example, "said that
his agency had not funneled any money
to opponents of Dr. Allende. I.T.T. offi-
cials testified that the C.I.A. had rejecsed'
their offers- of help and that the only
money spent during this period was-to,
promote agriculture and housing-not to,
block Dr. Allende. -
There was some, confusion 'about pre-!
cisely when'the statute of limitations was,
due to expire in the matter. But a Justice;
bepartm-ent` st okea tin;,-Robert Steven
son, said it was either midnight tonight'
or midnight tomorrow- -
. The grand jury that bad" been 'hearing,
evidence in the case for two -years ex-'
_pired last month, and the Justice Depart-
ment would have had to empanel another
one to seek an indictment. Both men.
however, had' waived their rights to
-
grand jury consideration ' of an indict
ment, so the department was able to file .
a criminal information, a.?.statement of
charges usually received for misdemeanor
cases.
Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030072-3