Bribery and correction
It is already clear that the depths of the relationship 'etween the Prince of the Netherlands and the Lockheed Aircraft Company have not been fully plumbed. It seems that as a result of the forbearance of the Dutch Parliament Prince Bernhard himself will now enjoy an unmerited period of peace. But in Germany and Denmark aknd Italy at least the investigations will go on. They may ;lave an important effect on the forthcoming elections to 11,,e Bundestag; and they may well influence the prospects i°3` the Andreotti government. Despite rumours—as yet to e Proved or disproved—that a senior British politician Ne'\fas at one time involved with Lockheed, it seems that this °4„111trY has remained relatively free from contamination. t t'ut complacency is never a healthy state of mind. It is drue that, particularly since the reforms in our method of Whence systems procurement wrought by Mr Ian Gilmour ()lien he was Minister of State in the Heath government, etaPurchases of advanced technological products proseeed In so orderly and even rigid a fashion that it is hard to at what point the attempt to exercise improper tCuence could have an effect. But then, one of the clearest 8s to emerge from the report of the committee invest'. Ing Prince Bernhard's conduct was the aimlessness of pau.ch Lockheed bribery : money appears to have been 131114 over even when there was little hope of influencing a petr.chase, or even after the custom had gone to a cornbu'lt,°r. Lockheed appear to have been in the business of try' goodwill for a somewhat vague future, as much as Ylng to influence immediate negotiations.
There is a great deal to be said for the establishment in this as in other countries of a recognised charter for lobbyists. There is nothing dishonourable about taking employment as a lobbyist for a particular commercial concern : indeed, there are many able men and IA omen doing such work in a perfectly aboveboard fashion on Capitol Hill. But there is great advantage in having lobbyists out in the open, known and, so to speak, licensed.
It may well be, too, that the EEC countries in particular should make strong and public representations to the United States about the activities of American companies abroad. It is true that some businessmen claim—and not always unreasonably—that in many parts of the world the payment of baksheesh is an essential part of the business of doing business. But the ramifications of the Lockheed affair-itself discovered, as these things so often are. accidentally—have threatened where they have not damaged the political stability of Western Europe. That cannot be in the interests either of the European countries. nor of their ally and protector, the United States. An international code of business conduct should, therefore. be promulgated at least among the NATO powers. Infringements of the code, whether by giving or receiving bribes or favours, should be punishable in the courts. and penalties should be laid down commensurate with the monetary scale of the offence. Only thus can we ensure that the trouble will not recur; and that those of us so far uninfected will continue free from taint.
