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chiquita

Page history last edited by David Gross 16 years ago

Chiquita charged by US Justice Dept. with paying off AUC in Colombia: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2007/March/07_nsd_161.html

"Funding a terrorist organization can never be treated as a cost of doing business," stated U.S. Attorney Taylor. "American businesses must take note that payments to terrorists are of a whole different category. They are crimes...."

      "The message to industry from this guilty plea today is that the U.S. Government will bring its full power to bear in the investigation of those who conduct business with designated terrorist organizations, even when those acts occur outside of the United States," said ICE Special Agent in Charge Reid.

      ...

      Chiquita began paying the AUC following a meeting in 1997 between the then-leader of the AUC, Carlos Castaño, and a senior executive of Banadex. Castaño implied that failure to make the payments could result in physical harm to Banadex personnel and property. No later than September 2000, Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying the AUC and that the AUC was a violent, paramilitary organization led by Carlos Castaño. Chiquita's payments to the AUC were reviewed and approved by senior executives of the corporation, including high-ranking officers, directors and employees.

      For several years Chiquita paid the AUC by check through various intermediaries. Chiquita recorded these payments in its corporate books and records as "security payments" or payments for "security" or "security services." Chiquita never received any actual security services in exchange for the payments.

      On April 24, 2003, a senior Chiquita officer and a Chiquita Board member, along with outside counsel, disclosed to officials of the U.S. Department of Justice that Chiquita had been making payments to the AUC for years, and represented that the payments had been made under threat of violence. Department of Justice officials told the Chiquita representatives that the payments were illegal and could not continue. Department of Justice officials acknowledged that the issue of continued payments was complicated. On Sept. 8, 2003, outside counsel advised Chiquita in writing that: "[Department of Justice] officials have been unwilling to give assurances or guarantees of non-prosecution; in fact, officials have repeatedly stated that they view the circumstances presented as a technical violation and cannot endorse current or future payments."

 

  • But note, Chiquita is charged with a distinct offense -- supplying funds to a terrorist group -- not with being an accessory or co-conspirator with that group in its particular terrorist actions. (Is this a distinction that matters, or just a legal way of simplifying?)

 

See also: International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

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