CIA DENIES LOCKHEED BRIBE ROLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300470052-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 52
• Content Type: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

Approved For Release 2006/10/19: CIA-RDP88-01315R000300470052-4
TtlE 1'1ASt1T.Nr'IOH STAR
3 April 197E
CIA
The CIA denied yester-
day that it was involved in
any illegal payments in
Japan by Lockheed Aircraft
Corp. The denial came after
reports surfaced that the
CIA knew of the payments.
The New Republic maga-
zine said the CIA may have
been aware of the payments
because of its connection
with an international
currrency-dealing firm
that served as a Lockheed
conduit.
And The New York Times
reported that many details
of the payments were re-'
ported at the time to the
CIA.
"The CIA has not been
involved in. any Lockheed
bribery operations," said
the agency's statement.
ASKED WHETHER the
CIA was aware of the ille-
gal payments in Japan, the
spokesman said the one-
sentence statement was all
the agency had to say and
that it "gets to the heart of
the matter."
Lockheed has said it paid
out $12 million to help pro-
mote business in Japan and
that $2 million of that went
to Japanese 'government
officials over several years.
In a copyrighted article
in its April 2 issue, which
also appeared in The Wash-
ington Star yesterday, The
New Republic says that
Deak & Co. of New York,
dealers in international
currency, was the channel,
for about $3.2 million of the
Lockheed moneys
There was no comment
from Deak & Co.
The New York Times re-
ported that many details of
Lockheed's bribery of
Japanese politicians in the
sale of its F104 fighter
plane in the late 1950s were
reported at the time to the
Central - Intelligence Agen-
cy.
THE TIMES quoted a
former CIA official and uni-
dentified Japanese sources
as saying details of Lock-
heed's spendin an esti-
mated $1.5 million to win.
the fighter contract from
Grumman Aircraft Corp.
were sent through CIA
channels from the Ameri-
can'embassy in Tokyo.'
The former official was
quoted as saying the CIA
station in Tokyo "was
checking with headquarters
'every step of the way when
the Lockheed thing came
up. Every move made was
approved by Washington."
The Times said Mitchell
Rogovin, CIA counsel,
would neither confirm nor
deny that the agency knew
of the payments to Japa-
nese officials.
Author Tad Szulc said in
the New Republic article
that Deak and Co. "for
many years has ... served
as a covert channel for
worldwide financial opera-
tions of the CIA" and that
this is "a matter of guarded
knowledge in Washington's
intelligence community."
"Therefore, it . is' more
than likely that the CIA was
aware all along of Lock-
heed's secret activities in
Japan, including the pay-
ments of millions of
dollars ... to the leader of
an extreme right-wing
Japanese political faction
and still unidentified senior
Japanese officials," he
wrote.
Szulc quoted "well-placed
American sources" as say-
ing the CIA "may even
have orchestrated much of
Lockheed's financial opera-
tions in Japan, pursuant to
secret U.S. foreign policy
objectives.
The Lockheed payments
became known last Febru-
ary during hearings of a
Senate committee, with
much of the money alleged-
ly going through Yoshio
Kodama, identified as an
influential power broker. '
v1RIrCD
Approved For Release 2006/10/19: CIA-RDP88-01315R000300470052-4