Colombian officials are continuing to investigate three Chiquita Brands officials suspected of involvement in the payment of paramilitary death squads in the name of the banana company.
According to a report by El Tiempo on Monday, Colombian prosecutors requested that the U.S. Department of Justice notified Chiquita Brands executives John Paul Olivo, Charles Dennis Keiser, and Dorn Robert Wenninnger that they are under investigation by the Colombian government for having financed paramilitary operations in the region of Uraba totaling US$1.7 million between 1997-2004.
The investigation is based on payroll records from former paramilitary bosses Salvatore Mancuso, Raul Emilio Hasbun, ‘Pedro Bonito’; Ever Veloza, HH, and Freddy Rendon, ‘El Aleman’.
The company has two other cases pending and is facing charges of having bribed Colombian customs officials and trafficked one and a half tons of coca disguised as fruit cargo.
