Inquiry Delays Decision in Presser Case : Officials Fear Indictment Might Hurt FBI Reliance on Informants

Top Justice Department officials, concerned that an indictment of Teamsters Union President Jackie Presser might damage the FBI’s reliance on informants, have ordered federal prosecutors in Cleveland to come to Washington twice in recent weeks to determine Presser’s FBI status, sources familiar with the case said Thursday.

The new inquiry has further delayed a Justice Department decision on the Cleveland prosecutors’ 100-page recommendation that Presser be indicted in a union payroll-padding case, the sources said.

And it has raised the possibility that FBI concerns could derail the recommended indictment. One government official said the review, which should be completed in “weeks,” could determine the outcome of the Ohio investigation.

Value as Informant

The sources, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified, said Cleveland strike force attorneys Steven R. Olah and Stephen H. Jigger have been told by their Justice Department superiors to learn how valuable Presser has been to the FBI as an informant and whether he is still cooperating with the bureau.

Some FBI officials have taken a dim view of the lengthy federal grand jury investigation of Presser because FBI agents have not been involved and because Presser has helped them as an informant in Teamster-related cases since the 1970s. All the field work in the Cleveland case has been conducted by Labor Department investigators.

Presser’s attorney, John R. Climaco of Cleveland, could not be reached for comment Thursday, and Justice Department spokesman Terry H. Eastland declined to comment. Climaco and government sources have acknowledged that a “prosecution memorandum” written by Olah and Jigger has been under study since January by high-ranking Justice Department officials who must decide whether to ask a grand jury to indict Presser.

Three-Year Inquiry

According to government sources, the document is based on a three-year investigation of allegations that Presser fraudulently approved payment of more than $250,000 from the treasury of his hometown Cleveland local to associates who performed no work for the union. The payments allegedly occurred before Presser was elected president of the 1.9-million-member union in 1983.

Presser still controls his Cleveland union, known as Teamsters Local 507, and was the most powerful Teamster leader in Ohio before assuming the national post.

A person who acts as an FBI informant is not automatically protected from prosecution, federal law enforcement sources say. Nonetheless, Presser’s role as an FBI source of inside information about the union has troubled some Justice Department attorneys from the beginning of the Cleveland case.

Cite Two Arguments

Federal agents and attorneys opposed to proceeding against Presser cite two arguments.

One is the hope expressed by FBI officials that Presser gives federal authorities invaluable access to union leaders and could help turn the Teamsters away from the union’s alleged influence by organized crime.

Another is that any prosecution of Presser probably would mark the first official acknowledgement of his relationship with the FBI and could reveal specifics of the role he played in sensitive investigations, perhaps jeopardizing his safety. Government sources have refused to name specific criminal cases in which Presser provided information.

The Presser investigation continues to present political problems for President Reagan’s top appointees at the Justice Department because Presser has been Reagan’s chief supporter in organized labor. Last January, for example, Presser was co-chairman of the labor committee for Reagan’s second inauguration.