From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Subject: THE OCTOBER SURPRISE: BCCI Lawyer to be Chief Counsel (part 2)
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 11:30:05 GMT

THE OCTOBER SURPRISE: BCCI Lawyer to be Chief Counsel (part 2)


    Sick points out Lavi may also have taken part in an Oct. 5, 1980,
    meeting at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel here with Reagan-Bush campaign
    officials Richard Allen, Robert McFarlane and Laurence Silberman.
    Lavi may be the unidentified Middle Easterner--whom the three
    concede they met with--who offered to arrange a deal to obtain the
    release of the U.S. hostages. Silberman contended the rejected the
    deal, saying, ``We have one president at a time.''
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    After Lavi's death in 1990, his brother, Parviz, produced a page
    from Houshang Lavi's notebook in the arms dealer's distinctive
    handwriting describing the L'Enfant Plaza hotel meeting. The note,
    dated Oct. 2, 1980, said ``Ring telecon(?) with J. Baker to meet
    Silberman, Allen Bob McFar. 40 page document F14 parts already
    paid for in rtun of hostages Swap in Karachi. Charter 707.''


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[From PeaceNet's oct.surprise confernece]
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Topic 14        BCCI LAWYER COUNSEL FOR `OCTOBER' 
christic        oct.surprise     2:31 pm  Feb 26, 1992 
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OCTOBER SURPRISE PROBE TAPS BCCI LAWYER 

[For information on subscriptions to the Guardian, the independent 
radical newsweekly, call 1-800-877-5448, or write the Guardian, 24 
West 25th Street, New York, NY 10010. Subscriptions are $33.50 a 
year.] 

By JACK COLHOUN 
The Guardian, Feb. 26, 1992, p. 3 



	       =======================================
	       [ . . . c o n t i n u a t i o n . . . ]
	       =======================================

Meanwhile, two january 1983 letters of credit issued by BCCI's 
Brompton road branch in London financed arms and aircraft parts 
shipments to Iran that may well have been part of October Surprise 
arms transactions. 

An ASCO Malta Ltd. ``pro forma invoice,'' dated Jan. 18, 1983, 
addressed to Kashani, ``rep. of Iranian authorities,'' described a 
deal for $13,294,500 worth of arms and ammunition: 10 overhauled 
AMX 13 tanks with ``a 75mm gun'' and ``equipped with optical 
instruments and light armament .50 Browning and turret.'' A 
photograph of the invoice was published in Vif L'Express, a Belgian 
magazine, accompanying an article by Serge Dumont in the Feb. 6, 
1987, issue. 

Another ASCO Malta invoice, dated Jan. 21, 1983, outlined a deal 
for aircraft parts and instructed Kashani to establish a letter of 
credit with the BCCI Brompton branch to be sent to an ASCO Malta 
account at the Bank of Valleta, Malta. The transaction was for B- 
737 engine parts (starter pneumatics, tacho generators, regulators, 
exciter boxes and fuel controls), unspecified B-707 parts and A-300 
cf6 engine parts (Guardian, Sept. 18, 1991). 

Gary Sick noted in his book ``October Surprise'' that Ari Ben- 
Menashe, a former israeli military intelligence officer, told him 
that Kashani visited Israel in early 1980, a few months after the 
52 U.S. embassy personnel were taken hostage in Iran in november 
1979, to work out an arms deal. 

``As a result of Kashani's visit to israel, an initial shipment of 
approximately 300 tires for F-4 fighter aircraft was arranged as a 
demonstration of good faith,'' Sick wrote. 

``In March or April 1980, these tires were flown on a regularly 
scheduled El Al flight to Vienna. There the cargo was transferred 
to a commercial iran air flight to Tehran.'' 

Sick points out that hashemi also identified Kashani as a visitor 
to Israel in early 1980 who was involved with israeli arms sales to 
Iran. 

Lavi, the arms dealer cited by Hamilton as an October surprise 
source, also claimed to have been involved in the Iranian arms 
purchases from ASCO. He told Vif L'Express that he acted as an 
intermediary in late 1982 working out the details of a major arms 
deal between ASCO and Iran that was consummated in 1983. He claimed 
the transaction included tank parts, HAWK missile parts and night 
vision equipment for M-16 rifles. 

Lavi also traveled to iran in December 1981 ``to promote the sale 
of F-14 parts to iran with israel's assistance,'' Sick wrote in 
``October Surprise.'' ``As a result of his visit, Lavi entered into 
a relationship with Abraham Shavit, a former israeli intelligence 
officer who ran a company named ASCO wit headquarters in Belgium 
and a branch in Malta. Several sources identified ASCO as 
associated with israeli intelligence.'' 

``An American associate of Lavi's said that he spent about six 
weeks in Belgium in late 1982 shortly before the ASCO contract was 
signed,'' Long Island Newsday reported on Nov. 22, 1987. 

Sick points out Lavi may also have taken part in an Oct. 5, 1980, 
meeting at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel here with Reagan-Bush campaign 
officials Richard Allen, Robert McFarlane and Laurence Silberman. 
Lavi may be the unidentified Middle Easterner--whom the three 
concede they met with--who offered to arrange a deal to obtain the 
release of the U.S. hostages. Silberman contended the rejected the 
deal, saying, ``We have one president at a time.'' 

After Lavi's death in 1990, his brother, Parviz, produced a page 
from Houshang Lavi's notebook in the arms dealer's distinctive 
handwriting describing the L'Enfant Plaza hotel meeting. The note, 
dated Oct. 2, 1980, said ``Ring telecon(?) with J. Baker to meet 
Silberman, Allen Bob McFar. 40 page document F14 parts already paid 
for in rtun of hostages Swap in Karachi. Charter 707.'' 

Before his death, Lavi maintained that he initiated the L'Enfant 
Plaza meeting with a phone call to James Baker, who is currently 
Secretary of State in the Bush administration. Lavi indicated that 
he was in contact with iranian representatives who proposed a swap 
of U.S. F-14 spare parts for the hostages. He said the Reagan-Bush 
officials turned down his offer, adding they said they were ``in 
touch with the Iranians themselves'' and didn't need his help.