C.I.A. SAID TO HAVE KNOWN IN '50'S OF LOCKHEED BRIBES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000300470055-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 55
• Content Type: NEWSPAPER CLIPPING

By ANA 1l CRITTENDEN
qq~rove~ Fc~r RIP 2 0 7'f2~ L1~-RQPM-01315R00030047Q055-1
Many of the details of the - `
bribery of Japanese politicians never received the tungsten.
by the Lockheed Aircraft Cor- C,I.A o Said to Have T Kodama let it he kn~~:v*
potation in the late 1950'x, in that the ship had suiJk, and ap-
connection with the sale of tile' ? ?~ ~ parently kept the commission.'
F-101 fighter plane toe Japan, '509s th oc.,7r.ee `n,o,e,. One former agent noted that,
there were some sentiment at
were reported at that time to,. C.LA. head ueraters in Wash-1
?the headc uarters of the Central It is also possible that false q
1 inryton that INIT. {odama, who;.
Intelligence Agency in Wasli p statements, punishable by Fed-
art in the payments himself 0-1 1:,,,. -- ,,,..,,, alho had close tie-, to tl,P Tni,.-1
-ington, according to a former
C.I.A. official and Japanese
sources.
Although the C.I.A. wasi
aware of the bribery, public
disclosure of the payoffs did
not come until last Feb. .4 in
'hearings of the Senate subcom-
mittee on multinational corpo-
rations.
''The scandal has created ;log.
ternational tensions : and
touched off worldwide investi-
gations. of . the . payments by
Lockheed and, other American
companies to various parties in
Eui.'ope, Japan arid the Middle
'East to win lucrative multimil-
lion-dollar sales contracts for
various products ' ranging. .from
,aircraft to pharmaceuticals.
The Lockheed payoffs '.in
Japan, involving.S12.6'million.
Over a .,-period .lof 20 years,:
were made to top officials of
the Government, primarily
through Yoshio Kodama, an'
!influential power. broker in
Japan who has . already been
identified as the. 'most im-
portant behind the-scenes. ? rep
resentative of Lockeed at that
time.
Mr. Kodama C.I.N. has .not been
identified as a', Cagent, but
the has had a long-standing re'-
ilationship with American
Embassy officials in-'Japan. In
,addition, Mr. Kodama was . the
recipient of American 'funds
.for covert projects on -several
occasions, according to fprnter
C.I.A. officials. .
?'. The C.I.A. headgfiarters ? in
Washington was .informed of
:the.. Lockheed. payoffs through
C.I.A. ch? nneis from the em-
bassy in Tokyo in the late
1950's. A Japanese citizen who
worked for Lockheed in 1958,
when certain bribes were
known to have been made, has
said he told an American Em-
bassy officer of these .pay-offs.
He has denied having taken
aware that the officer was a
C.I.A. agent.
Former senior intelligence
officials have confirmed that
the Embassy official was in-
deed a C.I.A. staff officer
assigned to the Tokyo station.
One former official who was
in a posiriort to see the reports
said that, the C.I.A. station in
Tokyo "was checking with
,apan.
"Every move made.was ap- A,.,.,,..,r:....
added, asserfing that details of When informed of the alle- ssor of Japanese at co-','
.....-._7.-......_ oafinn 8d4'I'All T-3-- - at.., lumbia University and an aJJth_'
P -Y
_
d._
ee
ffair
k
the
ii?1 high levels within the agency.
'-'The Central Intelligence
Agency failed to pass this in-
formation on to the State Deeg~
-partment or to the Grumma5l
Aircraft Corporation, whose
E11F-IF Super Tiger jet fighter
was first selected for purchase
by the Japanese Government
fit I958-.and then in 1959 re-
jected in favor of the Lockheed
plane
Lockheed is estimated to have
spent some $1.5 million to win
,the Japanese jet fighter contract
Away from Grumman in the
late 1950's. In all, Lockheed
paid.. fees, commissions, and
bribes totaling $12.6 million to
sell $700 million worth of air-
craft to Japan between 1956
and 1975.
Kodama` Earned $750,000
Of that total, some $7 million
went to Mr. Kodama, who
earned an estimated $750,OOQ
If the: information concern-
ingthe'Toekheed bribes was
passed on. to the Justice De-
partment, the Securities and.
Exchange Commission or the
Internal Revenue Service, no
action was taken to investigate
the irregularities.
Foreign bribes are not in
themselves illegal under Feder-
al law. However, the, bribes are
not tax-deductible and the
Government agencies- as the unuenvoria, was untrustworthy
Department of Defense, which ' and was using the Americans
monitors foreign arms sales and their financing for his ownl
One Justice Department offi- ends.
cial( told of the allegations of In this man's opi)ion, Amer-
C.I.A. awareness of early Lock- ? scan authorities were spending!
heed payoffs, said that al- vast amounts of money sub-
though it might not have been sidizing extreme rightists tot
legally incumbent upon the fight a Communism never real-i
agency to report what it knew ly a serious threat in Japan. !
to the Justice Department, the Other experts disagree, arg-,
agency's apparent failure to do uing that, particularly .in the!
special counsel to the Director -"tilt' on the extreme right-'
of Central Intelligence George .~ wing to postwar Japan,, the
Bush, said that 'the only thing ennrr!vt s'' American finaltc fill
we can say is we have no rec- support- for conservative cle
ords of any agency involve- ? ments in' the country was cru-,
ment with Lockheed or the' vial in 1947. and 1948.
bribes." He denied that the 1t. .In those years,. Japanese poi-~
agency as an institution had. cs'could have turned in a dif
participated in the payoffs. f2rent direction, Professor Mor-;
Mr. Rogovin said that he tit' maintained. "A lot was done;
firming or denying any agency. suc~ss[uuy.??
knowledge of the payments to Among other things, Ameri-
Japanese officials, or any in-) can Occupation authorities in
volvement in them by C.I.A.. the laze 1940's and the 1950's
agents. used extreme right-wing for
A spokesman for Lockheed
denied that the company had
had any dealings with individu-
als in Japan that it knew to be
C.I.A. agents..
ride information on and to dis-
rupt left-wing groups. In November 1951, for ex-J
According to knowledgeable ! Col. Takushiro Hattori, a for. i
sources, Mr. Kodama, a power-, mei'-secretary of General Tojo, I
ful ultrarightist who for years; ; allegedly provided American,
exerted a significant behind-1 authorities with information one
the:scenes influence on politi- ! . leitist novelist Kaji Wataru,
clans of Japan's ruling Liberal- ' ho wad 'subsequently kid-
Democratic Party, also had a 1 napped by- Occupation forces'
long-standing relationship with,: and held incommunicado b l
American Embassy officials in C.T.A. agents for a year, ac j
Japan. I 1 cording to sources inside and `
In the early 1950's, he is said , .outside of the -Government.
to have received some $150,000
from the American Embassy to
smuggle a hoard of tungsten
out of mainland China on Na-
tionalist warships and deliver
it to United Staten authorities I
in Tokyo.
possibility that -Lockheed andl Ship Said to Have Stunk
other companies might have it-I According to a former C.I.A.
legally reduced their taxable official and to Robert H. Booth,i
corporate income by deducting an American said to have acted
the- bribe payments as business as Mr. Kodama's agent in the;
expenses'..-_ arrangement, the Americans)
Approved For Release 2006/11/12 : CIA-RDP88-01315R000300470055-1