July 13, 1977
C.I.A. Front Company Sold for Far Under Net Worth
WASHINGTON, July 12 (AP)--The Central Intelligence Agency sold one of its front companies for $1.5 million less than its net worth, Government documents show.
E-Systems Inc. of Dallas, Tex., paid $1.9 million in 1975 for Air Asia Ltd., an agency front based on Taiwan. An audit of Air Asia showed that its net worth, the amount by which its assets exceed its liabilities, was $3.4 million.
E-Systems is a large Government contractor that provides highly sophisticated equipment for the Pentagon, the C.I.A. and other agencies.
Air Asia was sold by Air America, the C.I.A.-owned company that ran airlines in the Far East and Southeast Asia and provided transportation for various agency projects. Air Asia did about $12 million in business in 1975, mainly at a huge aircraft base on Taiwan, where about 2,800 employees do contract maintenance on military and commercial aircraft in the Far East.
The documents on the E-Systems purchase were released by Representative Gerry Studds, Democrat of Massachusetts, who had asked the C.I.A. for information about the sale.