Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 20

iry 1iil.wrMi"iiwiirii yiijayraMpHiigi-- iiqg wrrf" Sunday, February 8, 1981 Austin American-Statesman B2 4 Jeremiah' creator found Perot fights Iran second time Businessman challenges U.S. to get disputed payment i 4 accused of defrauding airlines innocent of perjury By PETESZILAGYI American-Statesman Stiff When the Iranian government held two of his employ-' ees captive In 1979 and demanded $12.5 million in bail, H. Ross Perot sent his own commando team into Tehran to free them. Today Perot thinks the U.S. government will unfreeze $19 million In Iranian funds a court awarded him, so he has undertaken another chapter in the saga of Perot vs.

FORT WORTH (AP) A 25-year-old man and three others have bilked airlines of more than $100,000 through a scheme In which they obtained airline tickets without paying for them, a federal prosecutor says. A suspect identified as Keith Forsey, a construction worker and part-time college student from Honolulu, was charged last week with defrauding Braniff Airways. The FBI still was looking for three other suspects. U.S. Magistrate Alex Mc-Glinchey set Forsey's bond at $20,000.

Iran. In taking on Iran, however, the controversial computer 'millionaire first must challenge the U.S. government. Charging that Jimmy Carter overreached his authority as president in agreeing to un-freeze Iranian assets in return for the hostages, Perot has asked a federal court for an injunction to prevent the transfer of the $19 million to a fund from which it might be returned to the Iranian government. By MARK GREAR American-Statesman Correspondent BELTON After four trials and 18 months of legal maneuvering, Inventor Arnold Burke went free Saturday when a Jury found him innno-cent of perjury.

"I feel like the Lord's will is done," Burke said after the trial. Burke left the courtroom surrounded by Jubilant supporters who think Burke's invention which he says can generate electricity using only gravity and water will be a boon to mankind. Burke contends that a production version of his prototype, dubbed Jeremiah 33:3, could put free electricity in the reach of every home owner. The state of Texas contended that Jeremiah was a fraud built to induce investors to pay Burke $800,000 for marketing rights. The fraud allegation was based on the discovery on Dec.

19, 1979, of a well-concealed electric pump Inside Jeremiah. The pump was connected to batteries hidden in another room. But for every allegation and piece of evidence the state presented against Burke, the inventor had an explanation and presented evidence to back it up. "It was the concept of reasonable doubt that convinced us," said Lucille Pyle, foreman of the jury of 11 women and one man. The jury deliberated for hours before reaching the verdict.

Burke was tried last week for per jury because he testified under oath Dec. 13, 1979, that he had never used external power to run Jeremiah. Testifying in his own defense Thursday and Friday, Burke admitted to putting the electric pump in Jer emlah but said he did it after Dec' 13. Burke said he was afraid state authorities would sfeal the secrets, of his Invention. In a voice choked with emotl3rL" Burke said he destroyed revolution! ary water pumps that were JBC "heart" of Jeremiah, then spent the next five days installing the electric" pump.

At the? time the Texas Attorney Gei neral's office, at the urging of idSi-eral disgruntled investors, was pu suing a civil suit to force Burke: to prove his claims for Jeremiah. fhe: discovery of the electric pump re-' suited in two perjury charges and eight theft Indictments. In May 1980 a trial on a theft count ended in a deadlocked jury. In September, after three dayof jury selection, the state and Burke agreed to a plea bargin on thCft charges. Burke was to pay back twor disgruntled investors and plead no; contest to deceptive trade misdemeanor.

State District' Judge C.W. Duncan, however, dCei jected the bargain and ordered testimony to begin. The state refused to present evidence, and Burke was found not guilty on one theft charge. i Mil I 'lliMII Ml H. Ross Perot overreached his Constitutional authority," he said.

He contends that the Judgment giving his company the Iranian money predated the hostage agreement, so any attempt by the government to take action that would, in effect, overturn that decision, is a violation of the separation of the executive and Judicial branches of government. The petition for the temporary Injunction was drawn up when proposed details of the hostage agreement were made public, "but we delayed pursuing this because of the hostages. The State Department didn't want court action on anything until the hostages were free, and we were happy to do that," he said. "Once we knew how bad the agreement was, we waited until the hostages were safely off the ground and went straight to the courthouse," Perot said. No date has been set for a hearing in the suit, which Is filed in federal district court in Dallas.

EDS spokesman Bill Wright said the company was owed the money after the Iranian government stopped paying midway through a three-year computer software contract to set up an Iranian social-security system and provide expertise to other government agencies. After several months, it became evident to the company that Iran didn't Intend to resume payment, so EDS stopped work and began to pull its employees out of the country, he said. Two high-level managers were detained by the government but not charged with any crime. The Iranians asked for $12.5 million in bail to release the employees, and later an Iranian prosecutor offered to arrange for their release if Perot put $6 million in a Swiss "bank account as a bribe, Perot said. Perot said he was willing to pay the bail and transferred the money to Kuwait in preparation for payment.

He subsequently decided to send in his own commando team, most of whom were EDS employees with prior military training. In the rescue, which came during the height of the Iranian revolution in February 1979, the captured employees were removed from Iran when authorities were diverted by revolutionaries storming the prison where the two captives were being held. Perot purportedly paid the revolutionaries to storm the prison. The suspect admitted during his arraignment that he had obtained Braniff tickets without paying for them and gave a statement detailing how the scheme worked, assistant U.S. Attorney Gerhard Kleinschmidtsaid.

Gang members posed as travel agents picking up prepaid tickets. As part of the scheme, the prosecutor said, they would give secret code numbers. Kleinschm idt wouldn't detail exactly how the scheme worked because he didn't want anyone else to try to use it. Named as defendants in the suit are new Treasury Secretary Donald Regan and the U.S. government.

The disputed money was awarded to Perot's company, Electronic Data Services of Dallas, by a federal court in New York in April 1980 as part of $23 million Perot says he was owed by the Iranian government for a 1977 computer contract. The $19 million is in a New York bank in the custody of the U.S. marshal pending the outcome of an appeal by the Iranian government. Perot said he doubts the Iranians will win the appeal, because they were unable to present a convincing case at the original trial. After the matter is settled, the funds probably will go into an account created in the hostage agreement for disputed Iranian assets.

The disposition of that fund will be in the hands of an In-: ternational tribunal that will be created to judge claims by U.S. companies against Iran. In a telephone Interview Friday, Perot said returning any assets to Iran is "terrible caving in to terrorists and kidnappers," and he urged the government to renege on the deal. But he denies that his suit is a direct challenge to former President Carter's hostage agreement. "It's as simple as high school civics.

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