Probers Want to Know if Envoy to Switzerland Knew of Secret Account

Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the recently fired White House aide, made several phone calls in September to the U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, where North allegedly had diverted Iran arms sale profits through secret bank accounts, congressional investigators were told.

A House Foreign Affairs subcommittee is trying to determine whether Ambassador Faith Ryan Whittlesey, a supporter of the Nicaraguan rebels, knew of the account and informed her boss, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a congressional aide said Friday.

Shultz has denied any knowledge of the possibly illegal scheme to divert, via Swiss bank accounts, up to $30 million in profits from the Iran arms sales to the rebels fighting the Nicaraguan government.

Members of the international operations subcommittee want to explore the discussions between North and Whittlesey to see whether they may have involved the Swiss account or the diversion of arms sales profits, a congressional aide said.

Panel members, already investigating Whittlesey’s performance as ambassador, also are expected to ask her at a scheduled January hearing about allegations that she tried to withhold embassy phone records from investigators, an aide said.