5 House Republicans Cite Toshiba Sales, Call for Sanctions

Five House Republicans on Tuesday charged that Japan’s Toshiba Corp. has made widespread illegal sales of sophisticated equipment to Soviet bloc countries.

They also called on Congress to punish Toshiba’s “outrageous behavior” with trade sanctions.

The group refuted Toshiba’s claims that only its Toshiba Machine Co. subsidiary had violated allied regulations against selling technology with potential military use to the Soviet Union.

“Reliable evidence shows that within the last seven years, Toshiba and other Japanese firms have been heavily involved in illegally enhancing the microelectronic capability of Warsaw Pact nations,” Rep. Duncan L. Hunter (R-Coronado) said. With him were Reps. Robert S. Walker of Pennsylvania, Dan Coats of Indiana, Helen Delich Bentley of Maryland and Frank R. Wolf of Virginia.

Hunter said his sources were U.S. agencies, but he would not name them.

Toshiba Machine and Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk of Norway have admitted selling equipment used to make the propellers on Soviet submarines quieter.