The Justice Department will look into allegations that Kenneth Starr concealed perjury while defending General Motors Corp. in a lawsuit filed by families of people killed or injured in truck fires, The Greenville News reported today.
U.S. Attorney Rene Josey told the newspaper that the Justice Department will review the allegations made by attorney J. Kendall Few against Starr, the prosecutor investigating President Clinton.In a sworn statement sent to Josey, Attorney General Janet Reno and the three-judge panel that appointed Starr as independent counsel, Few said Starr knew GM had presented false testimony in the product-liability lawsuits.
Starr "has taken active, energetic and successful steps to conceal and cover up such perjury," said Few, who represented one of the families who filed a lawsuit against GM in South Carolina. He settled with GM in December 1994.
A telephone call to Starr's office was not returned Tuesday. Kyle Johnson, manager of legal and safety issues for GM's communications department, said Starr's actions were "proper in every respect."