Most of Money Allegedly Stolen Was Her Salary, St. John Says : Crime: The head of the trade task force claims on a recording played at her preliminary hearing that leaders of the group had authorized a $75,000 salary for her. But task force officials deny it.

Juanita St. John told police that leaders of a city-funded Los Angeles-Africa trade task force granted her a $75,000-a-year salary that she says accounts for most of the money she allegedly stole from the group, according to a tape-recording played Wednesday at her preliminary hearing.

But three task force officials that she named on the tape have denied that they approved the salary, prosecutors said.

St. John is charged with five counts of grand theft and filing false state tax returns in connection with the alleged theft of $178,000 from the mayor’s Task Force for Africa/Los Angeles Relations. The city attorney also is suing St. John to recover nearly $400,000 it claims was misappropriated.

The preliminary hearing, which resumes next month with defense arguments, is to determine whether St. John should stand trial on the criminal charges.

St. John’s claim to a $75,000 annual salary--nearly twice what prosecutors and city officials contend was authorized--has emerged as the cornerstone of her defense. She says the salary accounts for nearly two-thirds of the money that she is accused of stealing.

Mayor Tom Bradley, a former business partner of St. John who helped create the task force and secure nearly $400,000 in city funding, was a member of the group’s executive committee.

On the tape played Wednesday, St. John told LAPD Sgt. James Heisdorf that the committee approved her $75,000 pay in 1979, although she did not mention Bradley.

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler declined to comment, other than to say that Bradley answered “each and every one of these questions” last year in interviews with city auditors.

Answering questions under oath last year, Bradley said he recalled discussions about a $75,000 annual salary for the executive director, and later about a $60,000 salary. The mayor said he did not know what St. John was actually paid.

To date, Bradley is the only task force official who has placed St. John’s salary in the range she is claiming.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Licker said the tape played in court Wednesday, over strong objections from St. John’s attorney, pokes a hole in St. John’s defense.

St. John told Heisdorf that the executive committee and specifically three committee members--bank executive Robert Gordon, accountant Clarence Harris and Nigerian businessman Ralph Ejedawe--approved her salary.

However, Gordon and Harris testified they had no say in St. John’s salary and were not even with the task force in 1979. Heisdorf said that Ejedawe denied any role in setting St. John’s salary. Ejedawe could not be reached for comment by The Times.

Licker said that it was improper for St. John to collect a $75,000 salary without proper approval. “You can’t take something that it is not authorized by the (nonprofit) corporation,” he said.

Outside the courtroom, St. John’s attorney, Victor Sherman, conceded that the salary claimed by St. John probably never was officially approved. But he said St. John was given a free hand in handling the task force’s financial affairs. “There was nothing legally prohibiting her from taking the salary she took,” he said. “Everything was informal.”