Lockheed bribery scandals

Fees paid by Lockheed and its banks to the Board for administering the program loan netted around $30 million, which was sent to the U.S. Treasury.

[2] In 1976, it was revealed that Lockheed had paid $22 million in bribes to foreign officials in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft, including the F-104 Starfighter, the so-called "Deal of the Century".

[3][4] Former Lockheed lobbyist Ernest Hauser told Senate investigators that West German Minister of Defence Franz Josef Strauss and his party had received at least $10 million for the purchase of 900 F-104G Starfighters in 1961.

[8] The scandal involved the Marubeni Corporation and several high-ranking members of Japanese political, business, and underworld circles, including Finance Minister Eisaku Satō and the JASDF Chief of Staff Minoru Genda.

In 1957, the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force wished to buy the Grumman F11F-1F Super Tiger to replace the F-86 Sabre then in service, but heavy lobbying by Lockheed of key Liberal Democratic Party figures led to the adoption of the F-104 instead.

[14] In March 1976, in protest of the scandal, actor Mitsuyasu Maeno made a suicide attack on Kodama's Tokyo home by crashing a light aircraft onto it.

He had served on more than 300 corporate boards or committees worldwide and had been praised in the Netherlands for his efforts to promote the economic well-being of the country.

[19] Prime Minister Joop den Uyl ordered an inquiry into the affair, while Prince Bernhard refused to answer reporters' questions, stating: "I am above such things".

[19] Prince Bernhard always denied the charges, but after his death on December 1, 2004, interviews were published showing that he admitted taking the money.

Adnan would provide not only an entrée but strategy, constant advice, and analysis," according to Max Helzel, then vice president of Lockheed's international marketing.

According to Ben Rich, director of Lockheed's Skunk Works: Lockheed executives admitted paying millions in bribes over more than a decade to the Dutch (Prince Bernhard, husband of Queen Juliana, in particular), to key Japanese and West German politicians, to Italian officials and generals, and to other highly placed figures from Hong Kong to Saudi Arabia, in order to get them to buy our airplanes.