Evidence Citing Hakim Believed Given to Court

The independent counsel in the Iran- contra affair has turned over to a court sealed evidence against Albert A. Hakim, an Iranian-American businessman linked to Swiss bank accounts that are central to the investigation, a source said Monday.

Independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh submitted the evidence against Hakim last week in U.S. District Court in Washington, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Such actions are designed to protect cases Walsh is developing from being tainted by grants of immunity from Congress. Friday was the day congressional investigators were permitted to begin questioning Hakim under a grant of immunity from prosecution, although there was no indication that such questioning has actually begun.

Once witnesses testify under such grants, no information from what they say may be used against them unless they lie. Filing information with the court in advance spells out the evidence Walsh has gathered against Hakim before his being questioned by congressional investigators.

Partner of Secord

Hakim is a business partner of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord, who is under investigation for an alleged role in taking some proceeds from the sale of U.S. arms to Iran and diverting them to the rebels fighting the government of Nicaragua.

Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. said he expects no “major disclosures” from either Lt. Col. Oliver L. North or John M. Poindexter, the former national security adviser, if they testify before the congressional committees.

Both men have so far refused to testify, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, but deals for them to receive limited immunity are said to be under consideration.

There have been reports that Poindexter may contend that he told President Reagan on two occasions that the Iran arms deals were helping the contras. Baker, in an interview Monday with WKRN-TV in Nashville, said he did not expect either of the former White House aides to implicate the President.

“Nobody knows what North or Poindexter will say, but I have heard the President say repeatedly he knows nothing about that,” Baker said.