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		RENO BARS EXPANSION OF ESPY-TYSON PROBE
                =======================================
                By Michael Hedges, The Washington Times 

Attorney General Janet Reno has stopped independent counsel Donald Smaltz 
from expanding his investigation of former Agriculture Secretary Mike 
Espy and Tyson Foods Inc., officials said.

Mr. Smaltz has been probing whether Mr. Espy accepted illegal gifts from 
the Arkansas poultry giant.  Investigators recently have been focusing on 
suggestions of other bribes by Tyson, which the company has branded false.

"We don't comment on communications with the Department of Justice," said 
Charles Bakaly, deputy independent counsel.  "We remain committed to a 
prompt, thorough and fair investigation."

But officials confirmed that Miss Reno had rejected a request by Mr. 
Smaltz to broaden his jurisdiction.

The Smaltz probe, begun in September, recently has drawn fire from Mr. 
Clinton and White House Counsel Lloyd Cutler.

In a March 3 press conference, Mr. Clinton was asked about the 
independent counsels probing Whitewater, Mr. Espy and Housing and Urban 
Development Secretary Henry Cisneros.

His answer singled out the Smaltz probe, which he said was an 
investigation of a few thousand dollars in gratuities, "in return for 
which he got a special counsel with 33 lawyers and a historian."

Mr. Cutler has made recent statements that Miss Reno should actually fire 
Mr. Smaltz or one of the other independent counsels probing the Clinton 
administration.

Tyson spokesman Archie Schaffer III recently visited several members of 
Congress, including Sen. Lauch Faircloth, North Carolina Republican, to 
discuss the Smaltz probe.

Mr. Faircloth said that this lobbying, Mr. Clinton's statement on the 
Smaltz probe and Mr. Cutler's criticisms, "begs the question, what is the 
Clinton administration so terribly afraid of?"

It was not clear what areas Mr. Smaltz had sought to explore before being 
denied by Miss Reno.  By law, the attorney general must approve any 
expansion of an independent counsel investigation.

In recent months, a federal grand jury in Washington has subpoenaed 
witnesses who have accused Tyson of giving illegal gratuities to other 
officials, including Mr. Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas.

Mr. Smatlz's staff recently said in a letter to an Arkansas lawyer that 
they were concerned Tyson Foods was using a vice president's lawsuit 
against a grand jury witness to intimidate the witness and obstruct justice.

The case involved a statement in December by a former Tyson senior pilot, 
Joe Henrickson, and his wife, Mary Ann, that Mr. Henrickson delivered 
shipments of cash from an unnamed Tyson official to go-betweens for Gov. 
Clinton several times during the 1980s.

Tyson has denied that charge.

Mr. Henrickson has been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury in 
Washington.

[end]

Source: The Washington Times
	National Weekly Edition
	April 3-9, 1995
 
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