December 25, 1986

One victim in the racial attack last week in Howard Beach, Queens, has refused a subpoena from the Queens District Attorney, according to law-enforcement officials, who said the case could fall apart without him. The victim, Cedric Sandiford of Brooklyn, also failed to appear at the 106th precinct in Ozone Park, Queens, on Monday to view a lineup. Officials said his absence contributed to the release of eight of the teen-agers who had been questioned in the attack. The purpose of the subpoena, according to aides of District Attorney John J. Santucci, was to get Mr. Sandiford to review the case with prosecutors before a preliminary hearing Monday for three white teen-agers who are charged with second-degree murder in the attack. The three, all of Queens, are Jon L. Lester, 17 years old, of 81-17 149th Avenue, Ozone Park, and Scott Kern, 17, of 87-14 158th Avenue, and Jason Ladone, 16, of 161-23 89th Street, both of Howard Beach.

The Administration has traced at least $20 million in contributions intended for the Nicaraguan rebels, $10 million from the Sultan of Brunei and roughly $10 million from private donors, according to an Administration official. The statement marked the first time that an Administration source had put a dollar figure on the amount of money thought to have been raised for the rebels, known as contras, from private and non-American government donors. The $20 million would come atop money apparently diverted from profits from arms sales to Iran, a figure that has been variously estimated at $10 million to $30 million. The estimate of $10 million from Brunei is significantly more than initially suspected by Congressional investigators. One Congressional official familiar with this estimate said today it was ''much more than we had previously heard about.''

The Wary Curators Until it can find out more about what it is getting, the Municipal Art Commission will no longer consider gifts of art to New York City. Page 33.

A flood of immigrants from Hong Kong has pushed commercial rents in New York's Chinatown up to the levels of midtown, making the real estate in one untidy corner of Manhattan among the most expensive in the United States. The demand for space is so strong, local real estate brokers say, that the operators of vegetable stalls near the bustling intersection of Catherine and Division Streets pay more rent per square foot than the owners of Tiffany & Company at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. City officials describe the frenzy in the Chinatown real estate market as ''hysteria.'' ''Everytime you turn around the prices have shot up again,'' said Michael Dirzulaitis, an assistant commissioner in the city's Division of Real Property, which has been involved in several development projects in Chinatown this year. ''It's hard to believe that there is enough money around to keep it going, but there is.''

Oui, Vanessa, there is a Santa Claus. But he does not live, as she addressed her letter, on the ''Street of the Shooting Star, fifth floor, left apartment, Milky Way, The Sky.'' Santa lives right here in the Gironde, one of the richest wine regions of France. Santa is slight - about 5 feet 6 inches tall. He wears a cuddly gray sweater and wire-rimmed glasses. Today, he's battling a fierce cold.