Word: hakim
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Hakim looked out for the military men who were his partners. Last week committee investigators discovered that Secord may have withdrawn as much as $300,000 from an account set up by Hakim to pay for amenities such as a Piper Seneca airplane, a Porsche sports car and a visit to a health spa. In his testimony to the committee last month, Secord indignantly insisted he did not benefit from the weapons deals; he may now be summoned back to Capitol Hill to explain the discrepancies...
North also stood to benefit from Hakim's generosity. On May 20, 1986, a few days before North and other U.S. representatives flew to Tehran, Hakim established the Button account. (The name Belly Button, Hakim said, was the result of a joke about North. He did not elaborate.) Hakim told the congressional committees that the $200,000 was a "death benefit" for North's wife and four children. Knowing that U.S. officials are forbidden by law to accept outside contributions, Hakim says he did not inform North of the account...
Though North returned safely from Tehran, the Button account remained open. Last fall, Hakim claims, he attempted to get some of the money to North's wife Betsy. Hakim's financial adviser, Willard Zucker, met with "Mrs. Belly Button" in Philadelphia and told her that an anonymous admirer of her husband's "wishes to help out with the university and educational expenses of the children." Zucker and Betsy North discussed an abortive plan to funnel money to the Norths through their relatives...
...Hakim at first contended that North remained ignorant of the bank account despite his wife's discussion with Zucker. But under questioning from Senate Chief Counsel Arthur Liman, the businessman admitted, "Eventually, I would have found it impossible for him not to know." Congressional investigators have already uncovered evidence that North used $2,000 worth of traveler's checks obtained from Contra Leader Adolfo Calero to buy groceries, snow tires and gasoline...
According to Hakim's testimony, North's motives may have been tainted by politics as well as profit. Hakim said he attended a secret meeting between North and other U.S. officials and Iranian government representatives in West Germany last October. North, said Hakim, was extremely eager for all of the U.S. hostages to be released before the November congressional elections, to "enhance the position of the President." But the Americans and the Iranians were at loggerheads. As North prepared to leave the meeting, Hakim asked if he could take over the negotiating. North gave him six hours...