(2 of 2)
Until the Lockheed revelations, the payoff with the most explosive consequences was United Brands' 1974 payment of a $1.25 million bribe to a high official in Honduras to reduce an export tax on bananas. The bribe was uncovered by an SEC investigation into the suicide of United Chairman Eli Black, who swung his briefcase to smash a hole in a window of his office on the 44th floor of New York City's Pan Am Building and then jumped to his death. The disclosure helped bring on a Honduran coup that overthrew the government of President Oswaldo López Arellano.
Other scandals are still emerging or growing. It is not known yet exactly how many U.S. military officers and high-ranking Pentagon civilians accepted the hospitality of Northrop and other defense contractors at hunting lodges; the current count is 101. Some highly principled companies are investigating their overseas activities on their own. G.D. Searle, the pharmaceutical firm, last month announced that it had discovered payments of $ 1.3 million to "foreign government employees or their agents." While the making of such voluntary disclosures is admirable, it intensifies a troubling question: When will the scandals ever end?