Meese Faces 4th Grand Jury Call in Wedtech Probe

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III faces a fourth appearance before the federal grand jury investigating his ties to scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp. after undergoing five hours of questioning Friday.

Meese answered all questions put to him by investigators for independent counsel James McKay “and will return shortly to complete his testimony,” his attorney, Nathan Lewin, said.

“We then anticipate an expeditious resolution of Mr. McKay’s investigation and are confident that it will be concluded favorably to Mr. Meese,” Lewin said.

$55,000 Investment

Meese came under investigation by McKay on May 11 after it was disclosed that the attorney general in 1985 had invested $55,000 with an investment manager, W. Franklyn Chinn, who had sat on the board of directors of Wedtech, a South Bronx, N. Y., defense contractor that is the focus of federal and state corruption investigations.

Meese has denied any wrongdoing and says that none of his money was invested in Wedtech, on whose behalf he intervened in 1982 when he was White House counselor and Wedtech was seeking a $32-million no-bid contract to build small engines for the Army.

Several months after Meese’s intervention, Wedtech got the contract.

The attorney general made a $40,000 profit on his investment with Chinn in 19 months through 23 highly speculative one-day stock trades.