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Indicted AIT official to return to US to face investigation

An official with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) was indicted by a US federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false declarations in a US terrorism trial in 2003, the US State Department confirmed yesterday.

A spokesperson for the department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Darlene Kirk, confirmed yesterday that the AIT official, Harry Raymond Smith III, had been indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and presenting false evidence in a terrorism trial and will soon return to the US for investigation, the Central News Agency reported yesterday.

Saying that Smith's indictment had nothing to do with his performance at the institute in Taipei, AIT said yesterday that it had no further comment on the issue and that all questions should be referred directly to the State Department.

Smith, 49, is currently AIT's chief security officer. He previously was assistant regional security officer at the US embassy in Amman, Jordan, from 1999 to July 2002.

He was indicted along with former US federal prosecutor Richard Convertino by a federal grand jury in Detroit, Michigan, for giving false testimony in a criminal case in which four defendants were charged with providing material support for terrorism and document fraud, according to a US Department of Justice press release dated March 29.

Smith assisted in the investigation of the Koubriti case and testified as a government witness at the trial.

If convicted on all charges, Smith faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a US$750,000 fine, the press statement said.

The indictment alleges that Convertino and Smith concealed photographs of a hospital in Jordan from the defendants and others at trial, and presented false testimony indicating that they were unable to obtain photographs of the site, the press release said.
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