Meese Talked of Key Post for Wallach : Informed of Criminal Investigation Shortly After Discussions

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III discussed giving longtime friend E. Robert Wallach a key Justice Department job a week or so before Meese was informed that Wallach had come under criminal investigation in the Wedtech scandal, one of the attorney general’s lawyers said today.

James Rocap said the slot Meese and Wallach contemplated in the spring of 1987 that Wallach might fill was that of counselor, a position traditionally held by one of the most trusted advisers to an attorney general.

Wallach was indicted last December on racketeering and other charges in the Wedtech scandal. A federal grand jury indictment alleged that Wallach and Meese’s financial manager, Wedtech consultant W. Franklyn Chinn, had extracted hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments from the Bronx, N.Y., defense contractor in an attempt to influence Meese and other public officials to help the company.

Rocap described the job talks between Meese and Wallach as “limited discussions held in late March or early April” of 1987.

Meese in South America

Rocap said he does not know which of the two men initiated the talks or how many there were.

Meese is on a trip to South America this week and was not immediately available for comment.

Around April 8, 1987, shortly after discussing a job for Wallach, the attorney general was formally notified under an administrative mechanism involving the FBI that Wallach had become a subject of the criminal investigation into scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp. Meese then excused himself from involvement in the Wedtech inquiry, being conducted by U.S. Atty. Rudolph Giuliani of New York.

In early March, 1987, the counselor’s post at the Justice Department had been vacated by the departure of Ken Cribb, who transferred out of the Justice Department and went to work in the White House. Cribb is now assistant to the President for domestic affairs.

Recalls Discussion

“It is the attorney general’s recollection that he did discuss with Wallach the possibility of Wallach coming on his staff to replace Ken Cribb,” Rocap said.

Assistant Atty. Gen. William Bradford Reynolds was brought in to fill the position of counselor last May 18.

Rocap characterized as “ridiculous, unbelievable” suggestions by columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak that Meese had considered the idea of bringing Wallach into the Justice Department “to be a live possibility” up until last December, when Wallach was indicted.

“When Mr. Meese was told that Wallach had become a subject of the investigation in April, that intervening event terminated essentially any substantive discussions of any kind” between the two men, said Rocap.

Meese’s involvement with Wedtech has been under criminal investigation since last May 11. At Wallach’s behest, Meese when he was White House counselor intervened on behalf of Wedtech in its efforts to win a $32-million no-bid contract from the Army. Wedtech got the contract in 1982 after a crucial White House meeting called by Meese’s deputy.