|
Monday, July 17, 2000
Meetings With S. African Attache Under Scrutiny
Inquiry: FBI had monitored '80s events attended by three suspects in shooting of Irvine drug company executive.
By JACK LEONARD, JEFF GOTTLIEB, Times Staff Writers
A series of meetings at the Beverly Hills home of South Africa's
trade attache are now the focus of the probe into February's attempted
slaying of an Irvine drug company executive.
The encounters, which took place in the mid-1980s, are under scrutiny
because investigators have discovered that all three named suspects in
the Irvine shooting conspiracy attended the events, police said.
In addition, the FBI, at the time, had become concerned enough about
allegations that two of the suspects were involved in trying to supply
South Africa with germ warfare materials that the agency monitored
several of the suspects' meetings, according to sources close to the
investigation.
Detectives aren't sure what role, if any, these years-old meetings
played in the alleged plot to murder Biofem Inc. CEO James Patrick Riley.
But investigators expressed hope that the connections could help them
unravel a 4-month-old inquiry that has yet to reveal either the gunman or
a conclusive motive.
The events at the Beverly Hills compound--which ranged from gala
celebrations attended by dozens of people to informal gatherings around a
wood-paneled bar--represent the strongest link yet between the Irvine
shooting suspects and South Africa's biological warfare program.
Dr. Larry Ford, who police say helped "mastermind" a plot to kill his
Biofem Inc. business partner, has been identified by several South
African researchers as an advisor to the military program.
FBI agents regularly inquired about Ford's and another doctor's
frequent visits to the home of South African trade official Gideon
Bouwer, according to friends of the trade attache.
Two of the friends--Peter Fitzpatrick and Tom Byron--said they told
the FBI that Bouwer often discussed acquiring biological weapons with the
help of Ford and others.
There is no evidence that the discussion led to any weapons
development, and the FBI never made any arrests.
But 14 years later, in the wake of the Biofem shooting, the FBI
launched a "weapons of mass destruction" probe when they searched Ford's
Irvine home and found germs that cause cholera and typhoid fever. Sources
said federal agents are trying to determine if Ford kept the germs for
biological-warfare research.
Ford committed suicide days after a masked gunman shot and wounded
Riley.
Prosecutors have charged businessman Dino D'Saachs, 56, with
conspiracy to commit murder, alleging he drove the gunman to and from the
scene of the shooting.
Detectives have twice questioned Orange County surgeon Jerry D.
Nilsson and say he has been cooperative. In court documents, police named
Nilsson as a suspect in the case but have not revealed how they believe
he was involved.
Nilsson's attorney, Anthony P. Brooklier, said his client had nothing
to do with the shooting of Riley. D'Saachs has pleaded not guilty to his
alleged role in a plot.
Police said they turned to the events of 14 years ago in an effort to
prove that the three suspects--Ford, D'Saachs and Nilsson--had previously
consorted with one other.
Irvine investigators interviewed Fitzpatrick, Byron and others who
visited Bouwer's house and learned that all three suspects were seen at
the diplomat's home, police officials said.
"These people have been associated for years," said Irvine Police Det.
Victor Ray.
Fitzpatrick and Byron said they met Ford during gatherings at Bouwer's
Beverly Hills home. The attache hosted frequent parties, inviting
American businessmen he hoped could provide South Africa with military
intelligence or supplies despite an embargo, the two said.
The surveillance came at the height of the U.S. arms embargo against
South Africa and just as the apartheid-era regime was developing a covert
biological warfare program.
Fitzpatrick and Byron said they told federal authorities about a 1986
meeting at Bouwer's home that included Ford, Nilsson and a high-ranking
South African official involved in the nation's biological weapons
program. Bouwer bragged that Nilsson and Ford were supplying the official
with germ warfare materials, Fitzpatrick and Byron said.
Irvine detectives and an FBI spokesman declined to comment on the
federal probe of Bouwer's activities. A law enforcement source familiar
with the investigation said agents were unable to prove claims of
embargo-busting.
"They never could substantiate a thing on Ford and Nilsson," said the
source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They never got anything
they could sink their teeth into."
The South African foreign affairs spokesman said consular officials
never heard of allegations involving Bouwer and biological weapons.
The extent of Ford's relationship with South Africa's covert
biological warfare program--code-named Project Coast--remains unclear.
Two South African researchers said earlier this year that Ford
lectured scientists on how to lace everyday items with biological agents.
But former South African Surgeon General Niel Knobel, who served as
administrative head of the program, has said Ford's role was limited to
providing informal consultation on protecting troops against biological
attacks.
Knobel said he met Ford at Bouwer's Beverly Hills home once but
maintained that Ford played no role in the development of biological
weapons.
Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
|
