Lockheed Martin has terminated its contract with the former Chief of Defense, General Jarmo Lindberg, and Suomalainen kenraalikonsultointi Oy. On Thursday, Lockheed Martin said in a statement that it would abide by the rules and laws in all of his operating countries.
On Thursday, the Defense Ministry was publishing a report and said that it agreed an exclusion period during which former Chief of Defense Jarmo Lindberg would not take any consultancy work. The report says Lindberg broke that to join the company as its lobbyist for a 10-billion-euro contract to provide Finland with fighter jets.
Lindberg retired in July 2019 and should, according to the agreement, have avoided any activity until January 2020.
In January Lindberg registered his own company but did not register that with the Ministry as he should have under the terms of his contract.
According to the Ministry, the breach is a serious problem although it notes he established the company towards the end of the cooling-off period.
The ministry said the failure was serious. However, Lindberg did not actually start his commercial activities during his cooling-off period.
Therefore, the ministry is not asking Lindberg to pay the fines due under his contract.
Lockheed Martin scandal
Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen announced that any contact with consultants over the deal would end.
In 1970’s Lockheed Martin was found guilty to give bribes members of friendly governments to guarantee contracts for military aircraft
In 1976, it was publicly revealed that Lockheed had paid 22 million dollars in bribes to foreign officials in the process of negotiating the sales of aircraft including the F-104 Starfighter.
This article updated on 28 April.
