McDonnell Douglas Executive Cleared in China Export Case
Sunday, July 16, 2000
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge dismissed an
indictment against a McDonnell Douglas Corp.
executive who was charged in a broader case that
accused the aircraft company of trying to
circumvent U.S. export controls and ship
sophisticated machine tools to China for use in
military production.
U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman, in a ruling
Friday, threw out the case against Robert Hitt, who
directed the company's China program office,
because it exceeded the five-year statute of
limitations.
Hitt was charged in only one of the 16 counts
against McDonnell Douglas and a Chinese
government-owned company, the China National
Aero-Technology Import Export Corp., or CATIC.
The case involved McDonnell Douglas' sale in 1994
of 19 surplus machine tools to the Chinese company
for $5 million. The U.S. government licensed the
export of the tools only for use in a joint
Chinese-McDonnell Douglas program to build 40
McDonnell Douglas civilian airliners in China.
Six of the sophisticated machine tools were
diverted, in violation of license restrictions, to
the Nanchang Aircraft Corp., where China makes
Silkworm cruise missiles and A-5 attack aircraft.
Hitt had argued that the indictment involved
allegations about incidences occurring on Sept. 14,
1994 - more than five years before the Oct. 19,
1999, charges were handed down.
The government had disputed this view, saying that
the conspiracy had a broader goal that was not
achieved until later - bringing it within the scope
of the statute of limitations.
The judge agreed with Hitt's view, dismissing the
indictment.
Hitt's lawyer, Dan Marmalefsky told The Los Angeles
Times that Hitt, who still works for McDonnell
Douglas, was relieved.
``He can once again devote his full energies to his
work,'' Marmalefsky.
The lawyer told the newspaper that the charges
against the other defendants remained intact
because their lawyers agreed to waive the statute
of limitations even before the grand jury issued
indictments in the case.
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