CIA CHOICE OKS STOCK-INVESTIGATION SETTLEMENT.

Byline: Associated Press 

CIA director-designate Anthony Lake will pay $5,000 to settle a civil probe of his stock dealings while serving as President Clinton's national security adviser, the Justice Department said Friday.

The department also cleared Lake of any wrongdoing linked to Iranian arms shipments to Bosnia.

The civil settlement stipulates there was no intentional effort by Lake to conceal his stock holdings nor any official action taken by him aimed at increasing the value of the stocks.

But the settlement makes clear that Lake had ample opportunity to become aware that his broker had failed to sell shares in four energy companies after White House lawyers advised him to do so in 1993. It also states that Lake participated in at least one official action that could have benefited one of the energy companies.

Meanwhile, Justice's criminal division notified a House subcommittee chairman that its investigation of the tacit U.S. approval given to Iranian arms shipments to Bosnia in 1994 ``found no evidence of potential criminal violations by Mr. Lake.''

In a letter to Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., acting assistant attorney general Mark Richard said there also was no evidence of potential wrongdoing stemming from Lake's statements to lawmakers about the arms issue.

The pending investigations had led the Senate Intelligence Committee to delay confirmation hearings for Lake from Feb. 11 to Feb. 25.

While questions about these matters will undoubtedly linger, the separate actions by the Justice Department's public integrity office on the stock transactions and by its criminal division regarding the arms shipments appear to eliminate the possibility of further delay.