THE TOWER COMMISSION REPORT : Lesser Figures May Shed Light on Operation : Panels Offer Immunity to Hall, 2 Others

The House and Senate panels investigating the Iran- contra scandal voted Thursday to offer limited immunity to three lesser figures in the operation whose testimony could shed light on details the investigators have been unable to obtain.

The three are Fawn Hall, former secretary to fired White House aide Oliver L. North; Robert Dutton, a retired military officer reportedly involved in a private supply network for the Nicaraguan rebels, and Edward de Garay, whose company is believed to have helped finance some air shipments to the contras.

Additionally, the Senate panel said it will begin trying to obtain bank records of retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, Dutton’s business associate and reportedly a key figure behind the supply operation. Secord also is believed to have been directly involved in the Iran arms sales.

Seeks Financial Records

The House panel already has asked for numerous financial records of several companies operated by Secord.

“The Tower Commission, as well as the Senate Intelligence Committee, traced the money (generated by the arms sales) to certain accounts,” said Arthur Liman, chief counsel of the special Senate panel investigating the controversy. “We’re hoping these bank records will tell us what happened to the money afterward.” Thus, it could help determine how much money actually reached the rebels and how much was kept by middlemen involved in the sales.

Liman said Secord’s attorney has told the committee that he plans to fight any effort to compel Secord or Swiss bankers to turn over the records. If the committee obtains a court order for the records, Secord must consent to their disclosure or face imprisonment.

Grants of Immunity

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), the chairmen of the House and Senate committees, both said they believe it is premature to consider granting immunity to North, considered a central figure in the scandal, or former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter. Both, along with Secord, have refused previous congressional requests to testify.

Lawrence E. Walsh, independent counsel investigating the secret operations, has asked the panels to delay granting immunity to North and Poindexter until after he has completed his own criminal probe, which may take more than a year. However, investigators on Capitol Hill have indicated that they cannot wait to make a decision as long as Walsh would like them to.

Friction may also be developing between Walsh and congressional investigators over internal Justice Department documents on the operation written after the discovery of the diversion of profits from the arms sale to the contras.

‘No Battle’ Developing

Hamilton said he has been informed that the Justice Department has given the documents to Walsh, and that the panels must obtain them from the independent counsel. “At this point in time, I really don’t know if there is a problem,” Hamilton said. Inouye insisted that there was “no battle” developing. However, Walsh did refuse to provide some requested material to the Tower investigating panel, which issued its report Thursday.

Hamilton refused to say whether Hall, Dutton and De Garay demanded immunity in exchange for their testimony, but he noted that the committee has a policy of offering immunity only where it is “essential to do so.” Hall’s lawyer, for one, has said he insisted on immunity before she talked to any investigators and added that she has been granted immunity by Walsh.

Hamilton added that his committee has notified Walsh of its plan to grant immunity, and that the independent counsel had expressed no objection.

Limited immunity would protect the witnesses from prosecution based on testimony they gave, but would not cover matters not discussed with the congressional investigators. It could take up to 30 days for the committees’ request for immunity to be granted by a federal court.

Destruction of Documents

Although the two committee chairmen refused to specify what information they hope to obtain from the witnesses, all are believed to have access to information that has not been available to the investigators thus far.

Sources have said that Hall has admitted destroying, altering and removing documents from North’s office in the days before his firing last November.

Dutton, who refused to testify when summoned before the Senate Intelligence Committee in December, allegedly helped coordinate the private supply network that provided arms and other assistance to the contras between mid-1984 and October, 1986, a period when U.S. aid to the rebels was legally prohibited. It has been reported that Dutton at times gave daily instructions to the flight crews supplying the contras.

De Garay, who owns a small airfield in Pennsylvania, is president of a firm that reportedly transferred more than $8,000 to the Wisconsin bank account of Eugene Hasenfus, who worked in the supply operation until his plane was downed by the Nicaraguan military last October. The Nicaraguans ultimately released Hasenfus.

The intensely private De Garay reportedly had told neighbors that his business, Corporate Air Services Inc., is an air-freight service firm.