International Cooperation in Penal Matters: The “Lockheed Agreements”

In February 1976, officials of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation testified before a Senate committee that their company had paid $12.6 million in bribes, commissions and fees to Japanese businessmen and government officials to promote sales of Lockheed planes. News of these bribes rocked Japan’s political establishment and governmental institutions. The Japanese Diet (parliament) passed a resolution urging that the United States government disclose to the Diet the names of the Japanese officials involved in these bribes. Prime Minister Takeo Mild sent a personal letter to President Ford requesting that the United States make available all information in its possession bearing on illicit payments in Japan. Members of several Japanese political parties came to Washington and attended the ongoing Senate hearings. The Japanese press sent extra teams of reporters to Washington who deluged the staffs of the Senate committees with requests for the names of the corrupt Japanese officials or politicians.