Special Counsels Spent $5 Million
Independent counsels have spent $5 million investigating the Iran- contra affair, the Wedtech Corp. scandal, former Reagan Administration official Michael K. Deaver and former Justice Department official Theodore Olson, the government said Tuesday.
The office of Iran-contra prosecutor Lawrence E. Walsh had spent nearly $3 million as of Aug. 31 probing secret U.S. arms sales to Iran and the diversion of money to the Nicaraguan contras, the Justice Department said in submitting financial data requested by Congress.
Possible Perjury
About $707,000 had been spent as of Aug. 31 by prosecutor Alexia Morrison, who launched a probe in April, 1986, of possible perjury involving Olson’s congressional testimony in a controversy involving the Environmental Protection Agency.
Counsel Whitney North Seymour spent $664,000 probing Deaver, whose trial started this week on perjury charges for allegedly lying about his lobbying activities after leaving his post as deputy White House chief of staff.
Prosecutor James McKay has spent more than $566,000 investigating the involvement of Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III and former White House political director Lyn Nofziger with scandal-plagued Wedtech, a South Bronx defense contractor.
