Authorities Silent About Shipyard Raid

Authorities remained tight-lipped Monday about last week’s FBI raid at Pacific Ship Repair & Fabrication, in which agents carted away several boxes of company documents.

The ship repair yard is owned by David Bain, campaign treasurer and political adviser to Mayor Maureen O’Connor. The company is reportedly under investigation for allegedly submitting fraudulent billings to the Navy. Pacific Ship Repair has received many ship-repair contracts from the Navy and recently repaired fire damage on the aircraft carrier Constellation.

FBI agents, acting on a search warrant, descended on the yard Wednesday. On Monday, FBI spokesman Ron Orrantia referred all inquiries to U. S. Atty. William Braniff. But Braniff’s secretary said he was in Washington and was not expected to return until Wednesday.

A Lot of Secrecy

Both federal agencies were treating the case with unusual secrecy. Braniff’s office would not even reveal which prosecutor has been assigned to the case, and both sides refused to say if an indictment has been issued.

Bain and his attorney, Kendall M. Squires, failed to return repeated phone calls.

In addition to working on O’Connor’s political campaigns, Bain was appointed to the Civil Service Commission by the City Council in April. But O’Connor spokesman Paul Downey said that Bain submitted his resignation from the commission on Friday, before he could be sworn in.

Spokesmen at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and the Neighborhood House Assn. said that Bain is still a member of their boards and has not offered to resign.

Pacific Ship Repair was formerly known as Arcwell Corp. Arcwell was having severe financial problems in 1986, when Arcwell officials hired Bain, who is a lawyer, to resist creditors’ attempts to force the company into bankruptcy proceedings.

Bain staved off the creditors and eventually took control of the company. He became the company’s board chairman and chief executive officer in 1987, when it became Pacific Ship Repair.