WALSH WINS DELAY IN IRAN TESTIMONY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710005-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: April 1, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710005-5
WASHINGTON POST
1 April 1987
Walsh Wins Delay in Iran Testimony.
By George Lardner Jr.
WaW"ft Pose StaA writer
A federal judge, acting at the re-
quest of independent counsel Law-
rence E. Walsh, has agreed to wait
20 days before ordering four wit-
nesses to testify before the House
and Senate committees investiga-
tiAg the Iran-contra affair.
- Chief U.S. District Court Judge
Knbrey E. Robinson Jr. ordered the
statutory delay applied to congres-
sional requests that limited immu-
nity from prosecution be granted to
the four witnesses in return for
lfeir testimony.
Under the law, Walsh cannot
dock the immunity grants but is
entitled to 20-day delays to permit
n to compile independent evi-
dence that can be used in any crim-
inal prosecution of the witnesses.
Once they testify under the immu-
nity grants, no information derived
from what they say may be used
against them unless they perjure
themselves.
The four witnesses named in
Robinson's orders were:
^ Retired Air Force lieutenant col-
onel Richard B. Gadd, who was in-
volved in the White House-directed
effort to resupply the Nicaraguan
contras when U.S. military aid was
cut off by Congress in 1984.
^ Robert L. Earl, who was a deputy
to Lt. Col. Oliver L. North on the
National Security Council staff.
North was fired from the NSC last
November for allegedly diverting
proceeds from secret Iranian arms
sales to aid the contras fighting the
government of Nicaragua.
^ Robert Owen, a friend of North
who worked as a consultant for the
State Department's humanitarian
aid program for the contras.
? Tomas Castilbl the pseudonym
used..b uhe former Central Intel-
ligence Agei cy sttation chief in Cos-
ta Rica wk-weer. recalled last De-
cember for giving assistance to the
contras at North's direction and
alleveft_misleading-the ....CIN in-
spector general later on when_ques-
tioned about his activities.
The Senate and House select
committees voted March 18 to
grant limited immunity to the four
witnesses and to two other individ-
uals for whom Walsh did not seek
delays.
The two are John Cupp, who
worked as security director at
Gadd's Vienna, Va., company, and
Cynthia Dondlinger, the company's
contracting and accounting officer.
Applications for all six were filed
with Judge Robinson Monday after
a preliminary 10-day delay also pro-
vided by law.
Under Robinson's orders, con-
gressional investigators must wait
until April 19 before questioning
Gadd, Earl, Owen or Castillo.
Under an earlier order granting
Walsh a similar 20-day delay, they
must wait until April 10 before talk-
ing to Albert Hakim, an Iranian-
American businessman believed to
be knowledegeable about Swiss
bank accounts used in the Iran-
contra operations.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403710005-5