U.S. Prosecutors Move to Block Attempt to Examine Affidavits

Federal prosecutors, asserting that unsealing documents in the Pentagon fraud case could lead to destruction of key records and attacks of “selective amnesia” among witnesses, moved Friday to block a defense contractor’s attempt to examine affidavits that lay out details of the widespread investigation.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Joseph J. Aronica, taking the action in a case involving the Pratt & Whitney division of United Technologies Corp., said: “Destruction of documents is a serious concern.”

Aronica made his comments in a declaration filed in U.S. District Court here, responding to Pratt & Whitney’s request that a federal judge allow company officials to review affidavits filed by the FBI to support warrants to search the division’s Washington office.

Paisley Attorney Files Motion

In a related development, an attorney for former Assistant Navy Secretary Melvyn R. Paisley, a principal target of the probe, filed a motion in the same court in an effort to obtain similar access to information about the government’s case against him and his wife. The motion to unseal the Paisley records was, itself, sealed.

In the Pratt & Whitney case, U.S. Atty. Henry E. Hudson argued that unsealing the affidavits would improperly disclose significant portions of wiretapped phone conversations among those under investigation. Hudson is heading the two-year probe of fraud and bribery involving government contracts that collectively are worth tens of billions of dollars.

Aronica said the government already knows of two cases in which targets of the Pentagon fraud investigation destroyed documents after FBI agents began searching the homes and offices of defense contractors, industry consultants and Pentagon officials on June 14.

Documents and Persons Not Named

However, Aronica did not name the documents or those who allegedly destroyed them. He said the incidents “required the securing of premises to prevent further destruction and the emergency application for (additional) search warrants.”

Both Pratt & Whitney and Paisley are asking that only they and their attorneys be allowed to review the affidavits. They are not seeking to make the documents available to the general public.

“It is my conclusion that even ‘limited’ unsealing of the affidavits . . . would hamper the ability of the United States to continue its investigation,” Aronica said in the court filings. He added that “it would facilitate ‘selective amnesia’ on the part of witnesses the government currently plans to interview.”