Life of Iran-Contra Grand Jury Extended for 6 Months
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WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday gave the grand jury investigating the Iran-Contra affair an additional six months to complete its work after federal prosecutors apparently indicated that they want to continue investigating Contra supply operations in Central America.
U.S. District Chief Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr. ordered the jury, which would have been dissolved Thursday, to continue its work through Jan. 27, 1989. That would extend its original 18-month authority into the term of the next President.
Robinson’s order referred to a sealed request from independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh and authorized the jury to deal with “investigations identified by the government in its motion.”
Walsh has been looking into an operation to organize a private arms supply network for the Contras, who are fighting the Sandinista government of Nicaragua, at a time when U.S. aid was banned by Congress.
The grand jury a month ago indicted the CIA’s former station chief in Costa Rica, Joseph F. Fernandez, on five counts of organizing the network. Also charged were unidentified co-conspirators.
Walsh has been continuing his investigation while preparing for the trials of former White House aide Oliver L. North, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and arms dealers Albert A. Hakim and Richard V. Secord for their roles in the sale of arms to Iran and the alleged diversion of profits to the Nicaraguan rebels.
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