DETROIT -- John Z. De Lorean, facing trial on cocaine smuggling charges, was investigated by a private detective and a General Motors committee because of possible kickback charges the year before his resignation from GM, the Detroit Free Press said Sunday.
The investigations examined De Lorean's outside business interests, possible kickbacks from GM suppliers and violations of GM policies. They may have been the source of speculation that De Lorean was forced out of GM rather than resigning because of differences over management philosophy, as he contended, the newspaper said.
When he left the No. 1 automaker on April 1, 1973, De Lorean made $650,000 a year as a group executive in charge of North American car and truck operations.
The flamboybant, silver-haired Delorean, now 57, formed the De Lorean Motor Co. in 1975 to build sports cars in a Northern Ireland plant. The company was placed in receivership and was shut down the very day he was arrested Oct. 19 on charges he financed a $24 million cocaine deal.
De Lorean is free on $5 million bond pending an April trial in Los Angeles.
A former GM executive, who asked not to be identified, and other sources confirmed that there had been a GM in-house investigation, the newspaper reported.
The private detective, C.J. Pickerell of Detroit, said he was asked in November, 1972 by a GM security official to conduct an investigation. Pickerell said he never delivered a report to GM and never was paid by the company.
Clifford Merriott, GM's director of news relations, said he could 'neither confirm nor deny' that De Lorean was investigated.
The in-house investigation of De Lorean apparently was leaked in April 1972 to the Gallagher Report, a 6,000-subscriber newsletter that is circulated among a select marketing and advertising group.
The newsletter, which used unnamed sources, said then-GM Chairman Richard C. Gerstenberg was unhappy with De Lorean's performance.
De Lorean had 'too many outside interests' and he was 'still under (the) cloud from internal investigations of kickbacks from Chevrolet suppliers,' the report said.
The Gallagher Report said De Lorean left 'crucial marketing decisions' to the company's advertising agency.
Pickerell said he began his investigation after De Lorean gave a highly critical speech of GM car quality and management decisions. A short time later De Lorean left the company.
