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about chiquita

Page history last edited by David Gross 16 years ago

if segue from conspiracy theory...

All this talk about the legal theory behind conspiracy charges may seem beside-the-point, because under what imaginable circumstances can you imagine being hauled into the government's court on charges that you conspired with the government?  But it's not entirely irrelevant.  Look at what happened to Chiquita.

if segue from under duress...

Can you be found legally guilty for payments you made under duress?  You certainly can, under some circumstances anyway.  Look at what happened to Chiquita.

 

Chiquita (you know, the banana company), had been operating in Columbia and, as a cost of doing business there, had to pay taxes to some of the governments that control parts of the country.  Three of those governments, were designated as terrorist organizations by the United States government, which has passed a law prohibiting anyone from funding such terrorist organizations anywhere.  In fact, there is an international agreement as of 2002 that prohibits funding terrorist organizations.  It says:

 

Any person commits an offence within the meaning of this Convention if that person by any means, directly or indirectly, unlawfully and wilfully, provides or collects funds with the intention that they should be used or in the knowledge that they are to be used, in full or in part, in order to carry out:

   (a) An act which constitutes an offence within the scope of and as defined in one of the treaties listed in the annex; or

   (b) Any other act intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to a civilian, or to any other person not taking an active part in the hostilities in a situation of armed conflict, when the purpose of such act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.

 

(On its face, this would seem to prohibit paying taxes to the United States government, but seeing as the government is a signatory to this agreement (and seeing as all of the signatories are governments), I'm sure there's a loophole.)

 

In any case, Chiquita pled guilty in a plea bargain and was hit with a $25 million fine.

 

But I'm not sure if this really is relevant to the topic at hand.  Note that Chiquita was not charged with conspiring with these Columbian terrorist groups -- wasn't charged as a co-conspirator or accessory in their crimes -- but was charged with a distinct crime of providing funds to terrorist organizations.  On the other hand, that crime may itself just be a sort of legal shorthand that amounts to essentially the same sort of thing.  I haven't investigated the legal theory behind it.

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