Goodyear Fined $250,000 for Paying Bribes to Iraq

Goodyear International Corp. paid a $250,000 fine Thursday after pleading guilty to paying bribes to get tire business with the government of Iraq.

In U.S. District Court, the Akron, Ohio, subsidiary of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., admitted a single count of violating the bribery prohibition of the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

From the fall of 1979 until the fall of 1983, Goodyear International obtained $19 million in Iraqi government orders for truck tires, based on an agreement that it would pay almost $1 million in bribes, according to documents released in court.

The activities were carried out by David J. Janasik, then the company’s regional export manager for the Middle East. Others involved were senior Goodyear officials, including the former director of export operations and the former executive vice president, the documents said.

Storage Room Talks

Janasik and Mohammed Jassem, an official of the Iraqi state-owned trading organization, discussed Goodyear’s interest in getting a share of the tire business when they met in the storage room of a Baghdad company, the papers said.

Jassem told Janasik that Goodyear’s competitors in France, South Korea and Japan had been willing to pay cash “commissions” to ensure a “good relationship” with the purchasing organization, Iraqi Trading Co.

Jassem also said that without such payments, Goodyear could hope for only limited business, according to a government statement of facts released in court.

Janasik told Jassem that such payments were against Goodyear corporate policy.