ಲಾಕೀಡ್‌ ಮಾರ್ಟಿನ್‌ ಕಂಪನಿಯ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಮುಖ!

ಆಯುಧಗಳನ್ನು ತಯಾರಿಸುವ ಕಂಪನಿಗಳು ಲಾಭದಾಯಕವಾಗಿರುತ್ತವೆ. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಸೂಕ್ತ ಉದಾಹರಣೆ ಲಾಖೀಡ್‌ ಮಾರ್ಟಿನ್‌ ಕಂಪನಿ. ಈ ಕಂಪನಿಯ ಅಸಲೀ ಕಥೆ ಒಂದು ಪಕ್ಕಕ್ಕಿರಲಿ...ನಮ್ಮ ಕಾಲನ್ನು ನಾವೇ ಎಳೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಏನನ್ನಬೇಕು? ಆಧುನಿಕ ಜಗತ್ತಿನ ಫ್ಯಾಷನ್‌ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾರತೀಯರನ್ನು ಗೇಲಿ ಮಾಡುವುದು ಸಹಾ ಒಂದು... ರವಿಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯನ್ನು ಟೀಕಿಸುವ ನೀವು(ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ರಂಗ), ಓದುಗರನ್ನು ದಾರಿತಪ್ಪಿಸಿದ್ದು ಎಷ್ಟು ಸರಿ?

• ಶ್ರೀನಾಥ್‌ ರಾಜಣ್ಣ, ದುಬೈ
  [email protected]

Dear Sir,

This is with reference to the response from Mr. Srinivas Ranga, USA. He mentions in his letter, "We dont pay bribes, so Indian Govt dont buy them it is that simple! " . It is not that simple..... Its a joke. No Arms company can survive without paying bribes to politicians. Bribery is universal, whether it is India, Japan or USA!. It is very unfortunate....

Of course most of the Arms manufacturers make profit. How they make Profit ?? Best example is Lockheed...Readers can visit the following link to know more about Lockheed..... http://www.polarisinstitute.org/corp_profiles/public_service_gats_pdfs/lockheed.pdf

Following are some of the sample items

(1) In January 1995 Lockheed Corporation Pleaded Guilty to conspiring to bribe an Egyptian politician and to falsifying its books. A Lockheed Martin executive was charged and convicted of paying $1.2 million in bribes to an Egyptian legislator to arrange the purchase of three Lockheed C-130 cargo planes to Egypt. The deal, worth $79 million, went through in 1989. The corporation’s fine of $24.8 million was the largest of its kind and double the profit the company made off the sale. As a result of this case, Lockheed Martin settled a whistleblower lawsuit with a former company executive in December 2002 for an undisclosed amount. The executive was fired one week after testifying against the corporation. Lockheed Martin was indicted on the bribery charges the day after the executive testified. The executive claims he was fired due to his testimony.

(2) In August 2001, Lockheed Martin’s Electro Mechanical Systems subsidiary pled guilty to criminal charges of obstructing a federal audit and over billing the government for 17 years. The corporation agreed to pay $10.5 million in criminal resolution. The employees who originally filed the lawsuit and were later fired, received $2 million in the settlement.

(3) In February 2002, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space settled a lawsuit with federal regulators alleging government contract fraud. The whistleblower lawsuit, filed in 1988, accused the corporation of defrauding the US government of 10s of millions of dollars on defense contracts and concealing the actions from federal auditors. The lawsuit repeatedly ran into legal obstacles, including opposition from the federal government, which argued that national security concerns outweighed investigating the claims against Lockheed Martin.68 Terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

(4) In August 2003, Lockheed Martin settled a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 1997 under the Civil False Claims Act. The US Government joined the lawsuit in 2001. The corporation paid $38 million to settle claims that they failed to provide complete, accurate and current cost and pricing data when they bid on a foreign military sales contract under the Air Forces Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night program, known as LANTIRN. The United States complaint alleged that the inaccurate data concealed a scheme to create additional profit which could be used to offset overruns on another Air Force contract.

(5) Weapons produced by Lockheed Martin have littered the world with toxic and nuclear waste, discarded fuel, chemicals and unexploded bombs left by the United States and other national armies. In Laos134 alone, where Lockheed Martin products were extensively deployed during the Vietnam war, it is estimated that between 9 and 27 million submunitions remain and some 11,000 people, 30 percent children, have been killed since the conflict in South East Asia ended 30 years ago.135 More recently, the corporation produces weapons containing depleted uranium and systems that help guide cluster bombs, not to mention aircraft and missiles designed to deliver apocalyptic nuclear warheads.

Lockheed Martin’s production facilities, past and present, have also inflicted damage on the land and people who lived and worked near these plants. Much of the pollution from the production process occurred during the cold war era when weapons manufacturing reached a peak rate and environmental laws in the United States were less stringent. Even though the cold war ended over a decade ago, Lockheed Martin earmarked $425 million in 2003 towards cleaning up the mess it made during the past 50 years. The majority of the total went towards remediation of soil and groundwater contamination at former production sites in Redlands, Burbank and Glendale, California and Great Neck, New York.136 The likelihood of future environmental damage could rise with the growth of defense spending and development of a new anti-ballistic missile program.

With all these, I would like to repeat what Mr. Srinivasa Ranga has written: "please without knowing the actual truth, dont write some thing rubbish and publish and mislead the public."

His other statement "There are and many other political reasons for US defense companies not selling to India. One of them is Indians are very good in C&D (copy and design!) I am sorry to say this.". We should be thankful to US companies in doing this. Whenever they do this, Indian Scientists have come out flying colors in terms of original research and development (Best example is development of Supercomputers when US denied them to India).

To conclude, I request people like Mr. Srinivsa Ranga to be loyal to their foreign-companies, but not at the cost of making fun of your motherland, that too without any substance.

ಮುಖಪುಟ

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