Canadians Will Reportedly Get Furmark’s Help

TORONTO â€”  Roy M. Furmark, the American energy consultant who first disclosed the so-called “Canadian connectionâ€� in the U.S.-Iranian arms scandal, has agreed to provide information about the arrangement to the Canadian government later this week, the Toronto Star reported Sunday.

In a story datelined from New York, the Star quoted Furmark as saying that he expects to meet with Canadian government officials in Washington on Thursday, when he is to testify for a second time before a Senate panel.

Furmark will be asked about the role played in financing arms sales to Iran by two Canadians, Walter Ernest Miller, a Toronto land developer and investor, and Donald Fraser, an accountant who now reportedly lives in the Cayman Islands.

Dealings With Khashoggi

Miller and Fraser have extensive business interests with Saudi Arabian financier Adnan Khashoggi, the billionaire who acknowledges having helped arrange much of the financing for the American arms sales to Iran.

Various reports have said that Khashoggi raised as much as $40 million from Miller and Fraser as bridge loans to finance the arms sales, a figure Furmark said was too high.

Furmark told Star reporters, who interviewed him outside his New York apartment building, that Miller and Fraser gave $10 million to Khashoggi to help buy arms to send on to Iran but that they have been repaid only $1.1 million.

The paper reported that Furmark said the two men have not gotten their money back yet because the arms shipment--�some equipment and spare parts�--has not been completed. “They prepaid 100%, and only part of the order was delivered,� Furmark was quoted as saying.

Word Passed to Casey

According to various sources, Furmark first disclosed the Canadians’ involvement when he told his friend, William J. Casey, director of the CIA, that Canadian investors were threatening to sue Khashoggi and the U.S. government because they had not been repaid.

Furmark told the Star that, contrary to earlier reports, Miller and Fraser were the only Canadians involved. “There are no other Canadians involved--just this transaction,� he was quoted as saying.

The Canadian government last week sent a strongly worded note to the State Department, complaining about Washington’s delay in providing information in the affair and demanding fast and complete cooperation.

Paul Frazer, a spokesman for the Canadian Department of External Affairs in Ottawa, said by telephone Sunday that the tension has eased considerably and that Canada expects a positive response from Washington within a day.

‘We’ll Get Back to You’

Justice Minister Ray Hnatyshyn “spoke to Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese on Friday evening,� Frazer said, “and was told ‘we’ll get back to you Monday.’ �