Fresh produce giant Chiquita Brands International has reached a settlement with shareholders who sued the company in the wake of a 2007 guilty plea related to charges alleging the group financed Colombian terrorist organisations.
The lawsuits alleged that Chiquita officers had breached their fiduciary duties to shareholders and had wasted company resources by getting involved in payments to the Colombian groups.
According to local press reports in the US, notice of the settlement was filed in the US District Court in south Florida this week, with the proposed deal calling for the 'adoption of certain governance and compliance changes by the company, as well as payment of attorney's fees to plaintiffs' counsel.
The deal was described as 'favourable' by group spokesman Ed Lloyd, who stressed that the agreement required court approval to be finalised.
Chiquita was convicted of making monthly payments, totalling US$1.7mbetween 1997 and 2004, to Colombian paramilitary organisation United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) in the regions of Urabá and SantaMarta for the “protection” of its workers.
A US judge subsequently ordered Chiquita to pay a US$25m fine after the group wasfound guilty of 'crimes against humanity'. Executives of Chiquitaresponsible for the deal, were never criminally prosecuted.
In 2008, Chiquita CEO Fernando Aguirre appeared on USnews show 60 Minutes to defend the payments made by the groupto Colombian terrorists. MrAguirre told the programme that the group had no choice but to payguerrilla groups, in order to save the lives of workers at Colombianplantations.
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