Chiquita to Pay $25M Fine in Terror Case

Banana distributor Chiquita Brands International Inc. headquarters is shown in this June 3, 2005 file photo, in Cincinnati. Banana company Chiquita Brands International was charged Wednesday, March 14, 2007 with doing business with a terrorist organization. (AP Photo/Al Behrman, file) (Al Behrman - AP)

"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.

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Associated Press writer Toby Muse in Bogota, Colombia, contributed to this report.

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