Word: textron
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...ever to be free?" That plaintive question was asked two weeks ago by Treasury Secretary G. William Miller as the Senate Banking Committee debated the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into charges of foreign bribes and Defense Department slush funds while he was chairman of Textron Inc. Answered California Senator Alan Cranston sternly: "The lingering doubt remains, from which you may never be free, that perhaps you didn't really want to know or you would have ordered an investigation." Two years after the allegations against Miller first surfaced, they continue to hound...
...reads like a business-mystery novel-with the last chapter missing. The Treasury Secretary confidently told the Senate Banking Committee two years ago during hearings for his confirmation as Federal Reserve chairman: "I do know my company did not bribe anybody." But the Securities and Exchange Commission charges that Textron's Bell Helicopter division spent $5.4 million in foreign kickbacks in ten countries between 1971 and 1978. The largest was the $2.9 million payment to a firm, owned in part by the deposed Shah of Iran's brother-in-law, in connection with the purchase of 489 helicopters...
Fearful that Textron's affairs would become public, company officials allegedly altered documents in the so-called White Rose files, which dealt with foreign payoffs. As the SEC dug into the Textron case over the past two years, executives also began losing their memories, and eleven employees took the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions. According to the SEC, documents relating to Textron's Defense Department entertainment fund were also destroyed...
Miller has steadfastly maintained that he did not know about these illegal payments, which breached clearly stated Textron company policy. And, although company officials close to Miller reportedly knew of the bribery, no "smoking gun" evidence has yet proved that the Treasury Secretary was aware...
...grandfathers of all conglomerates, Textron under Miller's management, had a highly decentralized operation. Company headquarters in Providence gave broad decision-making powers to the Bell Helicopter division in Fort Worth. Corporate financial control was maintained primarily through monthly reports, and only major capital expenditures were carefully monitored...