Harris Corp. Indicted on Bribery Counts

Harris Corp. and two executives of its digital telephone division were indicted Friday on charges of conspiring to pay bribes to Colombian officials for help obtaining government telecommunications contracts.

Harris Corp., which makes telephone switching equipment at its Digital Telephone Systems division in Novato, Calif., was named in the five-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in San Francisco.

The indictment also charged John D. Iacobucci, vice president and general manager of Digital Telephone Systems, and Ronald L. Schultz, the division’s human relations director, with violating the bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

A guard at Harris’ headquarters in Melbourne, Fla., said no officials were available to comment on the indictment.

The indictment charged that in 1989 Iacobucci hired New York consultant Robert D. O’Hara to pay a member of Colombia’s national legislature for help getting a telecommunications contract.

According to the indictment, DTS paid O’Hara $22,835 with the understanding that some of the money would be used to pay bribes.

Iacobucci and Schultz are accused of preparing false invoices to disguise the fact that some of the money would be used by O’Hara to pay bribes.

O’Hara, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment, represented himself as having connections with Colombian officials, the indictment said.

The indictment charged that Iacobucci agreed to pay money to a Colombian legislator in return for help obtaining contracts.

The member of the the Camara de Representantes that Harris Corp. sought to influence was not identified. But the indictment charged that the company and Iacobucci agreed to pay a commission to a local Colombian firm partly owned by the official if Harris obtained a contract.

The commission would be equal to 5% of any contracts Harris obtained from Telecom, the government-owned company.