NORIEGA'S DRUG CONVICTION UPHELD

WASHINGTON--Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega failed today in a
Supreme Court challenge of his drug-trafficking conviction and the 40 -year
prison sentence it drew. The nation's highest court, acting without
comment, let stand a ruling that said Noriega received a fair trial.

The man who prosecutors say collected more than $20 million in drug money,
and who himself claimed to have been paid $10 million by the CIA, received
the court's permission to file his appeal without the usual $300 fee.

Noriega is serving his sentence at a prison in Homestead, Fla. He was taken
into federal custody in 1990 after surrendering to U.S. troops that had
invaded Panama following his indictment on drug trafficking charges in
Miami.

Noriega, who had become Panama's political leader in 1988 after President
Eric Arturo Delvalle was ousted, was convicted on racketeering and
cocaine-trafficking charges for protecting Columbian smugglers who routed
drugs through Panama.

Noriega was on the CIA payroll in the 1980s. Government records said he was
paid about $800,000, although he claims the payments were more than $10
million.

The appeal acted on today contended that Noriega's federal trial was
tainted because federal prosecutors never revealed a deal they had made
with a Colombian drug trafficker to secure one witness' testimony against
Noriega.

Prosecutors indeed had agreed to seek a reduced sentence for Lucho
Santacruz-Echeverri, a high-ranking member of the drug ring known as the
Cali Cartel, if Ricardo Bilonick of Panama testified in Noriega's case.

Noriega's appeal contended that the drug cartel then paid Bilonick $1.25
million to testify falsely against him and that the government must be held
responsible for the alleged bribe. Justice Department lawyers urged the
court to reject Noriega's appeal, contending that even if bribery had
occurred "the government cannot be charged with responsibility for it."

In upholding Noriega's conviction last year, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled that he failed to prove that his knowing about the
government's deal concerning Bilonick's testimony would have changed the
outcome of his trial. The case is Noriega vs. U.S., 97 -7331.

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