Internal investigators for Lockheed Martin and Titan Corp. probing potential improper payments by Titan, found millions of dollars of suspicious overseas payments with some as recently as 2003, according to a Monday story in The Wall Street Journal.
Citing a person familiar with the situation, the Journal said the potentially improper payments related to when the company was competing for business in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Earlier this month, defense giant Lockheed said it was postponing its $1.8 billion purchase of information technology specialist Titan while the government investigated payments by Titan consultants to foreign officials.
The internal probe has already led to the suspension of a midlevel employee and implicated a top marketing official for a Titan unit and it could extend to higher-level executives the story said citing the unnamed person.
Sam Dailey, a marketing manager at Datron World Communications Inc., the Titan unit that makes military-radio systems, was interviewed in the internal probe and one of his associates has been suspended without pay as a result of the investigation, according to the story.
Talks with Justice Department prosecutors about a possible corporate plea agreement are slated for this week but the government's investigation of current and former Titan officials is set to last much longer, the story said.
For the takeover to be completed, Lockheed Martin officials have privately suggested Titan must get over the threat of federal indictment, the story said citing people familiar with the situation.
Neither Titan or Lockheed was immediately available to comment.
