By: Holly Thorne
Howard L. Combs, former Director of Business Development and Support at PPG Industries, Inc ., must pay $250,000 for conspiring to export epoxy paint and epoxy paint thinner for use in a nuclear power plant under construction in Islamabad, Pakistan.
In early 2006, Combs attempted to disguise the transactions as domestic sales with Innovation Decoration International, Inc., a PPG distributor with offices in the US and China. The items were in fact part of a contractual obligation between PPG and Huaxing, a Chinese subcontractor building the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) power plant in Islamabad. Combs was aware at the time that PPG had submitted a license application to the Department of Commerce relating to the Huaxing contract orders and that the license was still pending. Combs did not voluntarily self-disclose his intention to export without authorization.
This is the third employee of a PPG company to be personally penalized in this case. PPG was also penalized.