Meese Presence Felt Strongly at Wedtech Trial
Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III has not set foot in Judge Constance Baker Motley’s courtroom since she began hearing the Wedtech Corp.’s federal corruption case, but his presence has been felt strongly here ever since the trial began.
Although he is not a defendant, Meese is being portrayed in court testimony as the pivotal public official who--through the efforts of his longtime friend E. Robert Wallach--helped bring millions of dollars in government business and a national profile to a company that at one time was a tiny, struggling machine shop in the Bronx.
First as White House counselor and then as attorney general, Meese has been identified repeatedly by a former Wedtech officer and key prosecution witness, as well as defense lawyers in the case, as the target of a $200,000 bribery plot and as the senior Reagan Administration official who cleared the way for the small defense firm to win a $32-million Army engine contract and a $134-million contract for portable bridge construction for the Navy.
Such Good Friends
Lawyers for the principal defendant in the trial, Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N.Y.), are trying to convince jurors that Wedtech officials never needed the Democratic congressman’s help because the firm already had such good friends as Meese, former White House aide Lyn Nofziger and other Republicans close to President Reagan. Biaggi is accused of extorting $50,000 from Wedtech with a promise to use his office improperly to aid the company.
To be sure, the credibility of most of the trial’s scheduled witnesses will be challenged; at least four expected principal witnesses are admitted felons who held positions of responsibility with Wedtech. They are testifying for the prosecution in hopes of gaining leniency in their sentences.
In addition, no evidence has been produced to show that Meese ever received any funds solicited from Wedtech--allegations that his attorney has branded “preposterous.”
Nevertheless, the new charges and frequent mention of Meese’s name in testimony raise questions about whether he was more deeply involved in the Wedtech scandal than previously believed. The attorney general’s role in Wedtech dealings and in other possible conflicts of interest are under investigation by independent counsel James C. McKay in Washington.
Nofziger’s Conviction
Thus far, no fewer than four trials have been completed, are under way or are scheduled to begin in relation to Wedtech. In the one trial that has been concluded, Nofziger was convicted Feb. 11 of illegal lobbying on behalf of Wedtech and two other clients.
The man who Biaggi’s defense lawyers say first brought Meese into the Wedtech picture is his old friend Wallach, who was working as a consultant for the company at the time. Wallach will stand trial later this year in a separate Wedtech case on charges that he accepted money in efforts to influence Meese.
Former Wedtech executive Mario Moreno, a small, round man with modishly styled gray hair, has told about his frequent contacts with Wallach, mainly under cross-examination by Biaggi’s lawyer, James M. LaRossa.
Testifying in a thick Spanish accent in calm, even tones, the Colombian-born Moreno--who himself has pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy--said he and another company officer, Anthony Guariglia, had a series of meetings with Wallach in December, 1986, to talk about Wallach’s putting in “a fix” for them with Meese.
Wallach Got $800,000
Moreno said he and Guariglia urged Wallach to seek Meese’s help in keeping the two men out of jail. The New York firm at that time had become the center of a massive federal investigation of influence-buying in Washington, according to court documents, partly because Wallach had already received $800,000 from Wedtech, in addition to company stock, to open doors for the firm.
The two Wedtech officers were willing to offer $200,000 to pay Meese for his assistance, Moreno said. “Guariglia offered $100,000, and I said that I too would offer $100,000,” he testified.
“Wallach said he would take a look into it,” Moreno added. “He told us we would not go to jail.”
Under the plan, the Wedtech executives would seek Meese’s permission to flee to “a foreign asylum” such as Spain, but Moreno said that the scheme was never carried out.
“Did Wallach ever get back to you?” LaRossa asked.
“No,” Moreno replied.
Entered Guilty Pleas
Two months later--in February, 1987--Moreno, Guariglia and two other Wedtech officers entered guilty pleas to an influence-buying conspiracy. They agreed to testify against others in return for a government recommendation of leniency at the time of their sentencing.
Guariglia is expected to take the witness stand later to corroborate much of Moreno’s testimony.
Wallach’s lawyer, George G. Walker, who has been attending the trial and taking copious notes, told reporters that “it’s obvious Mr. Wallach didn’t get back to Moreno, so he didn’t consider it (the plan).”
Walker said that “it’s always risky for a jury to believe trained seals like Moreno,” who is expected to be a key prosecution witness at Wallach’s trial.
Met Near White House
In other testimony about Wallach’s alleged influence with Meese, Moreno said that in July, 1983, at a time when Wedtech was seeking a government loan, he met with Wallach early one morning in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House.
Moreno said that Wallach, after hearing the problem, offered immediately to see “my friend”--a term that Wallach commonly used to refer to Meese, according to investigators. Meese then was counselor to the President.
Wallach walked across the street to the White House and entered through a guarded gate, Moreno told jurors.
“When he came back (two hours later), he told me he had talked to his friend,” Moreno testified. “His friend had called Secretary Baldrige and gotten him out of the shower,” he added, referring to Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige, who was killed in a rodeo accident last year.
‘Too Hot Politically’
Moreno told jurors that Baldrige himself had balked at signing the loan agreement because it was “too hot politically” but Baldrige had promised that another department official would do so. Moreno testified that the problem was solved “in two or three days” but did not disclose further details.
According to Moreno, as well as evidence produced earlier at Nofziger’s Washington trial, Meese was instrumental six years ago in the award of a $32-million Army engine contract to Wedtech.
James Jenkins, then Meese’s deputy at the White House, arranged a White House meeting in May, 1982, to bring reluctant Army officials together with officials of the Small Business Administration so that Wedtech could receive financial help to win the contract as a “minority enterprise” firm without competitive bidding.
The meeting followed separate approaches to Meese that year by Wallach and Nofziger, who was hired by Wedtech after he had resigned as White House director of political affairs. Meese has contended that he merely asked Jenkins to make sure that Wedtech got “a fair hearing.”
Says Firm Defrauded SBA
Moreno testified that his firm defrauded the SBA because Wedtech was not a minority enterprise. The firm’s founder, Latino businessman John Mariotta, another defendant at the trial, did not own the required 51% of Wedtech stock to qualify the company for minority assistance, Moreno said.
A year later, the firm won an even larger contract from the Navy, Moreno said, after Wallach assured him that Meese had personally contacted then-Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger to recommend Wedtech. Meese and Weinberger have denied the charge.
In addition, Moreno told the jury that Wallach--stressing the value of his close ties to Meese--requested and received $300,000 from Wedtech in 1984 on grounds that he was helping to represent Meese as his lawyer at the attorney general’s contentious Senate confirmation hearings.
Moreno said Wallach told him that, without the money from Wedtech, he would not otherwise be paid for his legal assistance to Meese.
Wallach denied that any money he received from Wedtech represented legal fees for his work on Meese’s behalf. Current lawyers for the attorney general say that Meese had no knowledge of any Wedtech payments to Wallach for his legal representation of Meese.
Closeness to Meese
Still, in another instance in which he cited his closeness to Meese, Wallach told Wedtech officials that he expected to be appointed chief of staff at the Justice Department upon Meese’s confirmation and “could do more for Wedtech” in that post, Moreno testified.
Moreno said the $300,000 payment to Wallach was disguised on the company’s books as a legal fee to Wallach for work on a Michigan shipyard acquired by Wedtech, a matter with which Wallach had no connection.
Under questioning by LaRossa, Moreno said that Wallach twice introduced him to Meese at Washington social functions. At the 1984 Ambassadors’ Ball, Meese’s wife, Ursula, remarked to Guariglia’s wife: “Oh, you’re one of the Wedtech family,” Moreno told jurors.
“Did you infer from this that Mr. Meese was so familiar with Wedtech that even his wife recognized the names?” LaRossa asked.
“Yes, I did,” Moreno replied.
During eight days on the witness stand since testimony began in the U.S. District Court trial, particularly during cross-examination by LaRossa, Moreno referred to Meese so frequently that Assistant U.S. Atty. Edward Little complained to Judge Motley that defense lawyers were trying to impugn the integrity of the Justice Department’s prosecution of Biaggi.
Little said jurors might conclude that, because Meese is “our boss,” Biaggi’s prosecution might be politically motivated.
At Little’s request, Judge Motley instructed the jury that all Wedtech-related allegations involving Meese are being investigated by independent counsel McKay, not by the Justice Department.
