Firm Tied to North Sent Money in January, Contra Official Says

WASHINGTON —  The largest Nicaraguan rebel group disclosed Friday that it received money from a dummy company tied to Lt. Col. Oliver L. North as recently as this January.

A contra official said the Jan. 19 donation of almost $80,000 was part of more than $1 million provided by International Co-Operation Inc. and other organizations controlled by conservative fund-raiser Carl R. (Spitz) Channell, who worked closely with North.

The disclosure reveals that at least part of the contras’ private fund-raising network was still operating early this year--three months after North, who helped to organize the effort to skirt a ban on U.S. aid to the rebels, was fired from his post at the National Security Council.

Significant Amounts

Bank records kept by the rebel group, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, or FDN, also confirm for the first time that the Channell-linked firm delivered significant amounts of money to the contras, and suggest that the rebels came to depend heavily on Channell for cash income during 1986.

Lawrence E. Walsh, the independent counsel investigating the Iran-contra scandal, is considering whether Channell broke the law by allegedly using money raised from U.S. citizens to help buy arms for the rebels.

The FDN bank statements, from an international bank in Panama, showed four deposits from October, 1986, through Jan. 19 that the contras identified as coming from Channell, totaling $404,746. Bank statements for another FDN account in the Cayman Islands showed five deposits totaling $603,770 in May and June of 1986, which the contras said also came from Channell.

Several Firms

The Jan. 19 deposit, for $79,950, is described on the statement as a transfer from “Intel Co-Op Inc.” A contra official identified that as a reference to International Co-Operation Inc., also known as I. C. Inc., and said the firm is one of several controlled by Channell.

A chart found in North’s office safe at the National Security Council and published last week by the presidential commission headed by former Sen. John Tower (R-Tex.) identified “I. C. Inc.” as a conduit through which money would be sent to the contras.

Contra officials and a former Channell employee have said the conservative fund-raiser funneled money through a Washington public relations firm, International Business Communications, to the rebels. North’s chart appears to show funds moving from Channell’s groups through IBC to I. C., and then to several contra groups, including the FDN.

Channell has said his main organization, the National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, raised $4.2 million in 1985 and $7 million in 1986. “We would like to know where the rest of the money went,” the contra official said. “We didn’t get it.”

Non-Military Supplies

He said the FDN had used the money from I. C. Inc. to buy food and other non-military supplies. Raising money in the United States to buy weapons for the contras could be a violation of the Neutrality Act.

The contra official, who is familiar with the FDN’s financial records, said the group has received no additional money from Channell since the January transfer. Channell, who has refused to comment on his operations or his work with North, could not be reached Friday.

The FDN had insisted for months, ever since the Iran-contra scandal exploded, that it received no money from North or the Iranian arms sales. On Thursday, however, FDN leader Adolfo Calero told The Times through a spokesman that he had discovered a deposit in his bank records of $150,000 from Lake Resources, the firm North used to hold the proceeds of the arms deals. Calero later amended that figure to $200,000 and noted that it came in October, 1985, before the Reagan Administration began selling weapons directly to Iran.

However, the Tower Commission noted that $3 million from an Israeli sale of U.S. weapons to Iran in August, 1985, remained unaccounted for.