|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
China: Loral Pays $14 Million to Settle Charges on Illegal Activities Loral Space and Communications agreed to pay $14 million as part of a civil settlement after the United States charged that the company gave sensitive missile technology to China, company officials said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 21, 2001). The United States has been investigating the New York company since 1997, when reports arose suggesting the company illegally passed information and violated U.S. export laws, the Wall Street Journal reported. Loral did not admit any wrongdoing and denied the government charges as part of the settlement. The company also agreed to spend $6 million to strengthen its compliance with export laws. The settlement, between Loral and the U.S. State Department, also ended a criminal investigation by the Justice Department. Meanwhile, the California company Hughes Electronics expected a settlement with the State Department to end a separate investigation into that company’s dealings with China, spokesman Richard Dore said. The Justice Department also had said it would end its investigation without accusing Hughes of breaking any laws, Dore said. A State Department official confirmed the agreement with Loral and the negotiations with Hughes. A House of Representatives committee conducted an investigation into the dealings of both companies in China and said they had knowingly violated U.S. export laws in the late 1990s. Congress had expressed concern that both companies helped China improve its capability to launch ballistic missiles, the Journal reported (Friedland/Cloud, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 10). The U.S. investigation into Loral began after a Chinese rocket carrying a Loral satellite exploded in 1996, and Loral conducted a technical investigation into the launch failure. The company then provided information on the investigation to China, and the U.S. Defense Department concluded the information could have helped China improve its military rockets and missiles, the Financial Times reported. A Loral employee mistakenly sent the information to China without U.S. approval, Loral chief executive Bernard Schwartz said yesterday, adding that the company had improved its oversight since the incident (Alden/Spiegel, Financial Times, Jan. 10).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
