21. The government has never cracked down on the illegal payments . 22. The international media made allegations of these illegal payments . 23. In 1998, the president of the Japanese parent company resigned over illegal payments to gangsters. 24. The investigating agency said influential officials abused their positions to help Quattrocchi receive illegal payments . 25. The Irving, Texas-based company, now ExxonMobil Corp ., has denied knowledge of any illegal payments . 26. Claes, who was economics minister at the time, has repeatedly denied accepting any illegal payments . 27. The committee calculated that illegal payments exceeding $ 30, 000 were made during the 1980s. 28. When the Agusta scandal broke last month, he first denied any knowledge of illegal payments . 29. Claes, who became NATO secretary general in 1994, initially denied any knowledge of illegal payments . 30. The theory that they made illegal payments and covered them up does not hold up.
