Del Country:
A U.S. judge authorized the sanction, most under the Terrorism Act
EFE - Washington - 18 / 09/2007
District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington DC yesterday approved the agreement by which the banana multinational Chiquita Brands International agreed to pay a fine of $ 25 million for payments made to Colombian paramilitary group United Self-Defense of Colombia (AUC). This is the maximum penalty has been imposed so far under the U.S. anti-terrorism legislation.
In March, Chiquita pleaded guilty to having made over 100 payments to Colombian paramilitary group that a total of $ 1.7 million.
The prosecution itself was favorable last week that the company paid 25 million dollars, much of which has already paid five million, even before the judge had issued the sentence.
The sentence Lamberth of the company also imposes a probationary period of five years, during which you must make annual payments of five million to complete the sanction. Payment of extortion
As part of the agreement, the Department of Justice U.S. has also decided not to file charges against former executives involved in payments to the AUC between 1997 and 2004.
Speaking to the press, the advisor and executive of the multinational James Thompson said that the sentence is the "right decision" and "responds to the efforts of good faith that the company has to handle this situation so complicated."
Thompson insisted the company was "forced to pay extortion "by the AUC and that he did with the" sole purpose of protecting the lives of their employees and their families. "
According to the manager of Chiquita, the judge has considered the fact that the company made voluntarily confessed and cooperated throughout the investigation.
Attorney Jonathan Malis also emphasized the willingness to work for the company. At the same time, he stressed that Chiquita made payments to millionaires' finance arms to the AUC killed innocent civilians, "and continued with the transfers even after confessing the crime to the authorities in 2003. Murder of innocent civilians
This fact also Judge Lamberth said when he gave the statement, recalling that Chiquita's conduct was illegal and allowed the AUC to kill innocent civilians. He suggested
also concern that the recommendations of the prosecution did not collect individual responsibility of managers in these deaths.
Chiquita's defense lawyer, Eric Holder, said, for its part, Chiquita was threatened and argued that payments made before September 10, 2001, date on which the U.S. government declared the AUC a terrorist group - were not illegal.
Holder also supported his defense on the "negative" of the Government to respond Chiquita when their managers have approached the authorities to know the position of the Department of Justice on payments to the AUC.
With this ruling, Chiquita will move on to a scandal of international scope, which began with the payments to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN), and then spread to the AUC.
Chiquita's subsidiary in Colombia, Banadex, payments began in 1997, although it was in September 2000 when the multinational executives learned of its existence through an internal audit.
On September 10, 2001, the State Department told U.S. AUC a terrorist group, but due to the attacks the following day, the news went unnoticed and Chiquita only learned when a lawyer he met with her on the Internet in February 2003, according to the company.
More than 31,000 paramilitaries of the AUC have demobilized in 2006 after peace talks with the government of President Alvaro Uribe that began in 2003.
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Chiquita/Brands/pagara/25/millones/multa/financiar/paras/elpepuint/20070918elpepuint_1/Tes
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