North’s Complaints on Money Stopped Suddenly, Jury Told

Oliver L. North was so pinched for money that he complained about not having enough to buy lunch and gasoline, but his complaints suddenly stopped in mid-1985, a former National Security Council official testified today.

The prosecution is seeking to portray North as a career military officer who became money-hungry while working at the NSC, where he controlled a cash fund in his office safe that was intended to provide covert aid to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Mary Dix, who was the NSC’s director of administration, told the jury in North’s trial that the Marine lieutenant colonel complained on five occasions through mid-1985 that he was strapped for cash.

‘He Would Need Cash’

On a few occasions in the hallway as she was going home, North would run after her “yelling ‘Mary, Mary,’ ” she recalled. She said that “he would need cash to go home,” complaining that he didn’t have enough to buy gasoline.

In other instances, “Colonel North would get very upset” if the petty cash box for paying cab fare was empty, Dix said.

When North was not reimbursed rapidly enough for office expenses, “he would be pretty frantic” in trying to get NSC staffers to process his expense accounts, “to turn them around as soon as possible.”

“He said his credit cards were charged to the limit,” she said.

On a few other occasions while she was in her office, “he would run by. . . . His face was red. . . . He was very upset with my staff” for not being reimbursed fast enough.

“I would herd him from my area,” she recalled.

North said at one point that there was “not enough for cash to go home” and “not enough for lunch money,” she testified.

Stopped in Mid-1985

Prosecutor David Zornow asked if North’s complaining stopped.

“It stopped to the best of my recollection in mid-1985,” Dix replied.

North testified Monday that the $3,000 balance on a used GMC Suburban vehicle he bought in October, 1985, was paid from money he kept in a metal box in a closet at his home.

But the salesman who sold the vehicle, William Howell, testified today that North said he was going to get the money from the White House credit union.

Illegal Gratuity

From February to May of 1985, Richard V. Secord, who had been enlisted by North to run weapons to the Nicaraguan rebels, arranged four private sales of arms for the Contras.

North is accused of accepting an illegal gratuity from Secord--a $13,800 home security system--and converting to his own use $4,300 in travelers checks from Contra leader Adolfo Calero. The checks were run through a cash fund North kept in his office safe.

About $90,000 to $100,000 from Calero was funneled through the office safe, as well as $150,000 to $200,000 in cash from Secord. North said he destroyed the ledger detailing how the money was spent on orders from CIA Director William J. Casey.