International Hi-Tech Industries Inc - Street Wire
Int'l Hi-Tech ex Akrami's hearing has strange tales
International Hi-Tech Industries Inc IHI
Shares issued 58,942,791 Mar 15 close $1.10
Thu 15 Mar 2001 Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
The extradition hearing of Reza Akrami, a former director of International
Hi-Tech Industries, and his purported partner, Mohsen Lessan, took another
twist on Thursday, when a key United States operative in an Iranian
drugs-for-arms sting testified he cannot remember much, if anything. "I
can't even remember what I ate last night," Abrahim Hamidi, an alleged
heroin importer, told the court.
Mr. Akrami, a Vancouver cardiovascular surgeon, and Mr. Lessan, a
now-unemployed Coquitlam, B.C., real estate agent, face charges of
conspiring to violate the U.S. embargo on trade in restricted technology to
Iran. The pair were arrested on March 13, 1998, after a controversial sting
operation in which they were set up by agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Agency in the summer of 1995.
The evidence of Abrahim Hamidi, an Iranian expatriate living in the
Vancouver suburb of Langley, is key to discovering the truth behind the
genesis of the sting operation. Abrahim Hamidi made the initial
introductions of Mr. Akrami and Mr. Lessan to Special Agent Amir Hamidi, a
DEA agent who engineered the sting.
The defence contends that after sitting in jail for eight months after
being arrested in a heroin conspiracy in the San Francisco area, Abrahim
Hamidi was offered a plea bargain by Special Agent Hamidi, in return for
recruiting members of the Iranian-Canadian community in the Vancouver area
in a conspiracy to trade restricted technology to Iran for heroin.
The shopping list of technology in which Dr. Akrami was allegedly
interested included Klystron tubes, used in the Hawk missile system, Boeing
747 aircraft, hydraulic parts used to release munitions from fighter
aircraft, petrochemicals, weapons and arms, robot computers and computers
to be used for a nuclear plant in Tehran. The U.S. government claims that
in a July 21, 1995, meeting with Special Agent Hamidi in San Francisco, Mr.
Akrami introduced himself to the undercover DEA agent, who was posing as a
Dr. Afshar, as a heart surgeon and a retired general for the Islamic
Republic of Iran.
"He never was a general," Dr. Akrami's defence lawyer, Michael Bolton, told
Stockwatch. "He actually was imprisoned by the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime"
as he was foreign-educated, says Mr. Bolton. The lawyer notes the
cardiovascular surgeon was escorted under guard out of his cell each
morning to perform medical duties, then put back in his cell.
While Abrahim Hamidi is expected to be a critical defence witness in an
eventual U.S. trial, as he was the key link between Mr. Lessan, Dr. Akrami
and Special Agent Hamidi, his testimony at the extradition hearing in
Vancouver was a disaster. Abrahim Hamidi, who had been arrested after
failing to appear on a subpoena on Wednesday, shuffled into court on
Thursday, dressed in a rumpled white short-sleeve T-shirt, baggy sweatpants
and slipper-type casual shoes.
Mr. Lessan had little luck in questioning Abrahim Hamidi on the witness
stand. (Extradition judge Mr. Justice Selwyn Romilly has repeatedly refused
to appoint counsel for Mr. Lessan, who appears unrepresented in court
despite the urging of several prominent criminal defence lawyers, including
Mr. Bolton and David Martin.)
Abrahim Hamidi confirmed that he recognized Saeid Abbasi when the local
electrician served him with court papers on Tuesday. "Not at first, then I
recognized him," the witness told the court.
"Do you remember five years ago when we came to your house to fix the
lights in your kitchen?" asked Mr. Lessan. (Mr. Lessan asserts that he
first met Abrahim Hamidi when he drove the electrician, a friend, to a job
at Mr. Hamidi's house in Langley.)
"I have given them five letters yesterday from the doctor, the specialists
and professors, that my brain doesn't work. I have brain damage, and now
when I talk to you I cannot remember what I said five minutes ago," Mr.
Hamidi replied. None of these letters were tendered as court exhibits.
Abrahim Hamidi told the court he cannot remember Special Agent Hamidi --
who had arrested him in August of 1994 with a group of Iranians who tried
to sell six kilograms of heroin to an undercover agent in California -- and
later served as the key agent on the drugs-for-arms sting. "No. I cannot
even recognize my children in the house. My son brought his friend in the
house and I called the police to find out who was in my house," Abrahim
Hamidi testified.
"Can you remember any conversation you and I had regarding Klystron tubes?"
asked Mr. Lessan. "I can't even remember what I ate last night," Mr. Hamidi
replied. "So the answer is no?" asked Judge Romilly. "No," replied the
witness.
Mr. Bolton achieved more success in careful cross-examination.
"You were arrested by the DEA in August of 1994" in the heroin ring?, asked
Mr. Bolton. "I think yes, I think so, but they found that I wasn't guilty
and they let me go," replied Mr. Hamidi.
Mr. Hamidi also told the court he cannot remember how long he spent in jail
in California. "I wasn't in a special jail, they just told me to stay
there," he testified.
Mr. Hamidi told the court that after he was released, he was driven to the
Canada-U.S. border by U.S. officials, who called his wife, and then he went
to the hospital.
"That was about two months before you engaged Mr. Abassi for electrical
work at your house in Langley?" asked Mr. Bolton. "I can't remember the
repair men, I swear to God I can't remember them," Mr. Hamidi replied. (In
earlier testimony, Mr. Hamidi confirmed he recognized Mr. Abassi on
Wednesday.)
Mr. Hamidi denied he entered into a guilty plea deal to work as an
operative for the DEA and U.S. officials. "They just let me free," he told
the court.
"On the basis that you come to Canada and try to encourage
Iranian-Canadians to become involved in exporting technology to Iran?"
asked Mr. Bolton. "Not at all. I don't have a sane mind myself, how can I
become their agent?" replied Mr. Hamidi.
The witness also confirmed that he showed Mr. Lessan and Mr. Abassi a
counterfeit $100 (U.S.) bill and gave an interesting story of where he got
it from. "He is a specialist from the USA," Mr. Hamidi told the court.
"What is his name?" asked Mr. Bolton. "He is an important person. He is in
the counterfeit money and forged identity of people," replied Mr. Hamidi.
"He was important in the U.S. government?" asked the defence lawyer. "Yes,
in the whole of America, there are four-five-six people who have that
rank," replied Mr. Hamidi. "He is in the DEA?" asked Mr. Bolton. "No, in
counterfeit, and they have a lot of secret works," the witness testified.
Mr. Hamidi also offered interesting answers when asked if he offered,
apparently out of the blue, to supply Mr. Lessan with counterfeit U.S.
money and credit cards. "If you ask that other special agent in the United
States he would tell you," stated Mr. Hamidi.
"In April of 1996 you were charged with trafficking in imported heroin in
Langley. Do you remember that?" asked Mr. Bolton. "They can ask the police.
Someone had brought it to the address of my shop, but it wasn't mine, so
then the police let me go," Mr. Hamidi testified.
According to a Langley Advance News article dated April 19, 1996, Mr.
Hamidi has been arrested when 380 grams of heroin, worth an estimated
$250,000, was seized from a corner store in Langley City. The heroin was
seized at the H.S. Mini Market.
"It was through the co-operative efforts of Canada Customs and both the
Langley and Vancouver RCMP drug sections that this shipment of heroin,
which had been expertly concealed in a tapestry frame, was detected and
followed through to its destination in Langley," a police officer told the
media at the time. The heroin was believed to be from Pakistan, and arrived
in Montreal through the international mail system, according to the
newspaper.
After a few more questions, Mr. Bolton ended his cross-examination of the
key U.S. operative. As he was led out of the courtroom, Mr. Hamidi walked
to the door on his own, then made a point of leaning on a sherriff's arm
for support.
Readers will have to wait until May 10 for the next theatre of the absurd,
as the extradition hearing has been adjourned until then.
(c) Copyright 2001 Canjex Publishing Ltd. stockwatch.com |
