THE CRISIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE : Contras Deny Knowing of Iran Funds, Call It an ‘American Problem’

U.S.-backed Nicaraguan rebel leaders Tuesday denied knowledge of receiving up to $30 million from American arms sales to Iran and said the issue is “an American problem.”

But the announcement by Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III that some of the funds from U.S. arms sales to Iran were deposited in Swiss bank accounts and diverted to the rebels could mean a serious setback for the insurgents, known as contras, who are trying to oust the Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

“This is another factor that reduces people’s faith in the credibility of the Reagan Administration and the program. We’ve taken a number of hits and this is one more hit,” said a Western observer here. “This makes for a very shadowy future for the program next year.”

National security adviser John M. Poindexter resigned and National Security Council staff member Lt. Col. Oliver L. North was fired over the arms deal Tuesday. Meese said that with North’s knowledge, between $10 million and $30 million collected by Israeli middlemen for U.S. weapons shipments to Iran was transferred to bank accounts in Switzerland set up for the contras.

House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-Tex.) later said that Meese had told congressional leaders that Adolfo Calero, political leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest rebel army, drew money from a numbered Swiss bank account to help finance the struggle against the Sandinistas.

Denies Knowing of Money

In Miami, however, Calero said he knew “absolutely nothing about the money that has been referred to today.”

Calero told a news conference that during 1986, the contras have received only a “trickle of money,” perhaps $300,000 to $500,000, in addition to humanitarian aid approved by Congress.

“I have never drawn any check on any account in Switzerland or in any other country,” Calero declared. He said that, as far as knew, the contras had no accounts in Swiss banks.

Calero also denied that he and North, whom Meese identified as the person who arranged for the money to go to the contras, had ever discussed money matters. “We had no conversations about these funds,” said Calero.

Indalecio Rodriguez and Ernesto Sanchez, two members of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force’s political-military commission, also said they had not heard of money coming from Iran.

“I don’t know anything about that. I’m not going to make any comment. It would just be a lie,” Rodriguez said.

‘Not Aware,’ Chamorro Says

“We are not aware, not aware,” said Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, former editor of the opposition La Prensa newspaper in Managua, Nicaragua’s capital.

Chamorro was asked if the money could have been deposited in Swiss bank accounts held by the Nicaraguan Democratic Force or the contras’ umbrella group, the United Nicaraguan Opposition, without his knowledge. “Of course it could,” he said. “We are an organization and no single person in the organization knows everything that’s going on.”

Donald Lacayo, the group’s Costa Rican representative, said, “There are different resources, for political activities and for military activities. We don’t have to know the source.”

The rebels’ civilian leaders who were attending a two-day meeting here of the United Nicaraguan Opposition assembly seemed stunned by the news.

“As far as I have heard, at the battlefront there has been a shortage of all kinds of supplies,” said Edmundo Tefel, the organization’s representative in Guatemala.

At the urging of President Reagan, Congress narrowly approved $100 million in assistance to the contras this year, but earlier this month Calero complained that the aid was not being delivered fast enough.

For the last year, the rebel leaders have pleaded poverty and said their combatants had not performed better on the battlefield because of a lack of supplies. The rebels said they were dependent on private sources of funding since they used up the $27 million in non-lethal aid Congress gave them last year.

While contra leaders initially said the $100-million package would be enough for them to win the war against the Marxist-led Sandinistas, Administration officials have said Congress will have to approve more money.

The disclosure that money from the Iran arms sales was diverted to the contras raises questions not only about the legality of such a fund and whether giving it to the contras violated a congressional ban on military aid, but also about how the money may have been spent.

Earlier this year, there was much controversy in Congress over some of the $27 million in non-lethal aid the contras were unable to account for, but an investigation into the issue proved inconclusive.

Ernesto Palazio, the Washington representative of the United Nicaraguan Opposition, said he does not think the issue will hurt future appeals to Congress.

“I’m sure that with the sense of fair play on the part of the American people, we cannot be blamed for something we didn’t do. This is an American problem,” Palazio said.