Global banana giant Chiquita Brands International has held its hands up to federal authorities’ accusations that it has had financial dealings with high-profile Colombian terrorist organisations.
The Cincinnati-based fresh produce distributor has agreed to pay a US$25 million fine in five annual instalments, in the wake of revelations that it had made protection payments to the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the AUC. The company has also done business with the leftist Revolutionary Armed forces of Colombia, or FARC, according to prosecutors at the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Both Colombian groups have been designated by the State Department as terrorist organisations.
The vast majority of Chiquita’s 26,000 employees worldwide live and work in South America, where most of its bananas are grown.
Chiquita’s payments had been approved by senior executives at the company, according to federal prosecutors, who said the company’s corporate books were kept in a manner to conceal their payments. They said payments to the AUC began as early as 1997.
“No later than in or around September 2000, defendant Chiquita’s senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that this was a violent paramilitary organisation,” prosecutors said in the filing.
The accusations were outlined in a federal court filing called a “criminal information” which, unlike a grand jury indictment, is settled through negotiations and an agreement to enter a guilty plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
“The information filed today is part of a plea agreement, which we view as a reasoned solution to the dilemma the company faced several years ago,” said Chiquita chairman and ceo Fernando Aguirre in a statement. “In 2003, Chiquita voluntarily disclosed to the DOJ that its former banana-producing subsidiary had been forced to make payments to right- and left-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia to protect the lives of employees. The company made this disclosure shortly after senior management became aware that these groups had been designated as foreign terrorist organisations under a US statute that makes it a crime to make payments to such organisations. Since voluntarily disclosing this information, Chiquita has continued to cooperate with the DOJ’s organisation.
“The payments made by the company were always motivated by our good faith concern for the safety of our employees. Nevertheless, we recognised - and acted upon -- our legal obligation to inform the DOJ of this admittedly difficult situation. The agreement now reached with the DOJ is in the best interests of the company,” Aguirre added.
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