Business

The island's siren song is simple and successful: "Come back to Jamaica," the slogan goes. But the way in which the giant U.S. ad agency Young & Rubicam landed the Caribbean country's business is a tale of bribery and racketeering, according to a federal grand jury in New Haven, Conn. Last week the panel indicted the ad agency on charges that it paid about $900,000 in kickbacks between 1981 and 1986 to win and keep the Jamaica Tourist Board's account.

The jury charges that Y&R hired Arnold Foote Jr., a Jamaican advertising consultant who the Justice Department contends was also a government official. He allegedly passed along money to Eric Anthony Abrahams, Jamaica's Tourism Minister from 1980 to 1984. Y&R is accused of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which forbids the bribing of foreign officials. The agency denies any wrongdoing.