Hakim File Missing After Burglary at Lawyer’s Office

The Bay Area office of the attorney for Albert A. Hakim, the Iranian-born businessman who allegedly helped channel Iranian arms profits to the Nicaraguan rebels, was burglarized over the weekend and the only thing taken was the lawyer’s file on Hakim, authorities said Monday.

The theft of the file Saturday night, which contained information on the sale of arms to Iran, was described by sheriff’s deputies as “a professional job.”

Everything Else Undisturbed

Lt. T. K. Davis of the Santa Clara Sheriff’s office said that the burglar or burglars, who pried open a wooden door to break in, spent fewer than 10 minutes in the office. Except for the missing file, Davis said, the office in Cupertino was left undisturbed. “Apparently they knew what they were looking for,” he said.

Hakim’s attorney, Horace Dunbar, told deputies that only he and an assistant knew where the file was stored.

Dunbar could not be reached for comment Monday, but in a prepared statement he confirmed that the burglary had occurred and that a file was missing.

Davis said that the FBI had been called into the investigation because the case involved information “on the sale of arms that could be connected to the contras. “

A spokesman for the FBI in Washington said that his office was aware of the burglary but had no comment.

Whereabouts Not Known

Hakim, whose whereabouts are not known, has emerged in recent weeks as the suspected financial mastermind of a secret operation to aid Nicaraguan rebels with millions of dollars in profits from the sales of U.S. arms to Iran, according to sources in Washington.

He and one of his business associates, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, are considered key figures in carrying out the covert arms sales and diversion of profits, apparently under the direction of Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, a fired National Security Council aide.

A Swiss finance company to which Hakim has financial ties reportedly provided the banking channels used to funnel profits from the arms sales to the contras.

According to deputies, a silent alarm was triggered in Dunbar’s office at about 11 p.m. Saturday, apparently when the door latch was pried open. Deputies arrived at the building within 10 minutes.

Calls Authorities

Dunbar arrived shortly afterward and at first found nothing missing. About a half hour later he called the Sheriff’s Department and reported that the Hakim file was gone.

Davis said that Dunbar was reluctant to talk about the file’s contents, which included information dating from 1983.

Also included in the file was information on the sale of “nuclear devices to Iran and an involved party in Korea,” Dunbar told deputies. But in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News on Sunday, Dunbar said that he had not referred to nuclear devices, but to security systems for nuclear plants. He also said that he had not been in contact with Hakim since the burglary.