The leader of the Dutch government has refused to open a new investigation into the role played by Prince Bernhard in the Lockheed scandal that broke in 1976.
The head of the left-wing liberal D66 party, Alexander Pechtold, asked for ‘a commission of historians . . . to bring clarity to the affair after historian Gerard Aalders said Bernhard’s involvement was greater than so far thought,’ according to DutchNews.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Parliament last month he won’t authorize a new inquiry.
Bribery scandals involving Lockheed in Holland, Japan, and Italy helped push Congress to enact the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. President Carter signed the FCPA into law in December 1977.
DutchNews said the Lockheed scandal ‘nearly led to the abdication of then Queen Juliana when it broke in 1976. Bernhard had to renounce his military functions in exchange for judicial immunity for taking a $1.1 million bribe from Lockheed fifteen years earlier. He died in 2004.’
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To read more about the FCPA’s legislative history, see Prof Andy Spalding’s Beyond Balance series.
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