Word: accountants
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Oliver North attracted during the Iran-contra affair ranged from the heroic "Good" to the cryptic "B.G." (for "Blood and Guts") to the macho "Steel Hammer." But the most significant, and bizarre, could turn out to be "Belly Button." That improbable monicker was the name for a Swiss bank account containing $200,000 in Iran-arms profits that were set aside for the former National Security Council aide and his family...
News of the account, opened in the name Button, gave yet another twist to the Iran-contra hearings on Capitol Hill. A growing body of evidence indicates $ that North was not merely a reckless Marine who was acting purely for patriotic reasons in setting up the secret contra supply network and trading arms for hostages with Iran. Instead, last week's testimony suggested that like many of his private-sector companions, North may have been driven in part by a profit motive...
...Button account was disclosed by a key player in the scandal, Iranian- born Businessman Albert Hakim. He handled the financial side of the Iran- contra "enterprise," while North took care of the political end and retired Air Force Major General Richard Secord, a business partner of Hakim's, oversaw operations. "I intended to profit from my activities," said Hakim. "I never made any pretense about that fact." And profit he did. The enterprise made a total of $14.9 million from its transactions; $8 million of those profits were frozen in bank accounts after the scandal broke...
Epps declined yesterday to comment on thecharges, saying only, "I think contribution shouldbe taken into account. By contribution you aremeasuring what you have accomplished, what wereyour goals and have you met them. It is meant tobe an objective standard not a objectiveone...
...recollection of some such conversation -- though he insists that he "never thought of that as ransom." Only garbled portions of the story have become public, but Republican Senator Paul Trible of Virginia, who has been looking into the affair, and Government officials involved helped TIME piece together this account...