North Told to Testify; Immunity Is Limited

A federal judge Monday ordered Lt. Col. Oliver L. North to testify, under a limited grant of immunity from prosecution, before the congressional committees investigating the Iran- contra affair.

U.S. District Judge Louis Oberdorfer, the court’s acting chief judge, signed the order granting North limited or “use” immunity from prosecution.

The order, sought by the House and Senate committees, directs North to give testimony that he had refused to provide another congressional panel late last year.

Hearings in Recess

The public Iran-contra hearings are in recess this week, but panel lawyers are to take depositions in private from North and his one-time boss, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, in preparation for their public testimony next month.

The public hearings resume next Tuesday.

The committees also obtained an order granting limited immunity Monday for Glenn Robinette, a former CIA official who installed a security system at North’s home in Great Falls, Va.

Congressional sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the panels are trying to determine if Robinette was paid for the work from a secret Swiss bank account controlled by retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord.

Secord has denied any such connection.

The security system cost more than $2,000, according to one source.

On June 4, the House panel voted 12 to 3 and the Senate panel voted unanimously to give North limited, or use, immunity, which would prohibit prosecutors from using any resulting congressional testimony by the former National Security Council aide as evidence against him.

Independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh had asked the committees not to vote to grant immunity to North. Although the panels rejected Walsh’s request, they agreed to put off public testimony by North until at least July 16.

North, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, declined to testify before Congress when the Iran-contra affair was first unraveling last fall.

He has been named as a fellow conspirator by two conservative fund-raisers who pleaded guilty to charges they illegally used a tax-exempt foundation to raise millions of dollars for the contras.

The House Iran-contra committee also obtained an order for any credit report on North kept by the credit and financial information division of TRW Inc., a major defense contractor.