FOREVER LEFT
14th March 2007, 22:43
This is the standard.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070314/ap_on_...rrorism_bananas (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070314/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terrorism_bananas)
Chiquita charged in terror investigation By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago
Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization. Court documents filed Wednesday are an indication the company has settled a lengthy Justice Department investigation into its financial dealings with terrorist groups in Colombia.
Federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers paid about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. designated as a terrorist group in 2001.
Prosecutors said the company made the payments in exchange for protection. The company also made similar payments to the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
Colombia's banana-growing region is a zone that has been viciously fought over by leftist rebels and far-right paramilitaries.
Details of the settlement were not included in court documents. Chiquita said last month it had set aside $25 million to resolve the dispute. The company said the investigation involved a former subsidiary that was trying to ensure the safety of its employees.
The payments were approved by senior executives at Chiquita, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997 and concealed the payments in company books.
"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing.
Company attorneys made it clear the payments were improper, prosecutors said.
"Bottom line: CANNOT MAKE THE PAYMENT," the company's outside counsel advised in February 2003, according to an excerpt of a memo included in court documents.
In April 2003, company officials and lawyers approached the Justice Department and told prosecutors they had been making the payments. According to court documents, the payments continued for months.
The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNG6xzQu1Mw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2sxjpZax88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUWCTtZudQg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOOYZQVhXU...related&search= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOOYZQVhXU&mode=related&search=)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGIJ6XpLlp4...related&search= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGIJ6XpLlp4&mode=related&search=)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070314/ap_on_...rrorism_bananas (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070314/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/terrorism_bananas)
Chiquita charged in terror investigation By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago
Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization. Court documents filed Wednesday are an indication the company has settled a lengthy Justice Department investigation into its financial dealings with terrorist groups in Colombia.
Federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers paid about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. designated as a terrorist group in 2001.
Prosecutors said the company made the payments in exchange for protection. The company also made similar payments to the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors.
Colombia's banana-growing region is a zone that has been viciously fought over by leftist rebels and far-right paramilitaries.
Details of the settlement were not included in court documents. Chiquita said last month it had set aside $25 million to resolve the dispute. The company said the investigation involved a former subsidiary that was trying to ensure the safety of its employees.
The payments were approved by senior executives at Chiquita, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a meeting in 1997 and concealed the payments in company books.
"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote in Wednesday's court filing.
Company attorneys made it clear the payments were improper, prosecutors said.
"Bottom line: CANNOT MAKE THE PAYMENT," the company's outside counsel advised in February 2003, according to an excerpt of a memo included in court documents.
In April 2003, company officials and lawyers approached the Justice Department and told prosecutors they had been making the payments. According to court documents, the payments continued for months.
The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNG6xzQu1Mw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2sxjpZax88
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUWCTtZudQg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOOYZQVhXU...related&search= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziOOYZQVhXU&mode=related&search=)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGIJ6XpLlp4...related&search= (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGIJ6XpLlp4&mode=related&search=)