Justice Dept. Seeks Special Prosecutor for Nofziger
The Justice Department, in its fourth such action in the last seven months, has decided to seek a special prosecutor to investigate the lobbying activities of former White House aide Lyn Nofziger, officials said today.
If the court appoints a special prosecutor, Nofziger will become the sixth Reagan Administration official to fall under such investigation.
The department has asked that the inquest determine whether Nofziger violated federal ethics laws by lobbying for Wedtech Corp., a New York City defense contractor, a few months after he left the White House in 1982.
A former top political aide to President Reagan, Nofziger is accused of receiving $720,000 in stock when the company--which filed for bankruptcy Monday--went public in 1983.
Justice Department officials said the government is filing a request for the independent counsel with a special three-judge court, the same panel now weighing Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III’s request for a special prosecutor in the Iran- contra scandal.
The special prosecutor’s investigation is expected to focus on a letter that Nofziger wrote only four months after leaving office to a deputy counselor to Reagan, James Jenkins, on behalf of Wedtech’s efforts to get a $31-million Army contract.
The 1978 Ethics in Government Act prohibits top government officials from lobbying former agencies for a year after leaving office.
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