MONSANTO FINED USD 1.5M OVER INDONESIA BRIBES

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+ MONSANTO FINED USD 1.5M OVER INDONESIA BRIBES

Monsanto is to pay $1.5m in penalties to the US government over a bribe paid in

Indonesia in a bid to bypass controls on the screening of new GM cotton crops.

 

According to a criminal complaint by the Department of Justice under US

anti-bribery

laws, the company paid $50,000 to an unnamed senior Indonesian environmental

official

in 2002, in an unsuccessful bid to amend or repeal the requirement for the

environmental

impact statement for new crop varieties.

 

The Financial Times reports, " The [bribe] was delivered by a consultant working

for the company's Indonesian affiliate, but was approved by a senior Monsanto

official

based in the US, and disguised as consultants' fees.

 

" The company also admitted that it had paid over $700,000 in bribes to various

officials in Indonesia between 1997 and 2002, financed through improper

accounting

of its pesticide sales in Indonesia.

 

" The attempt to circumvent environmental controls on genetically-modified crops

in a developing country is a significant embarrassment for Monsanto, which is

engaged

in an ongoing campaign to win public support in the European Union for its

genetically

modified crops. "

 

In how many other countries around the world have similar things been going on?

This is very probably the tip of the iceberg.

 

***Read the full articles from the Financial Times and Associated Press***

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4773

 

+ MONSANTO'S LOSSES CONTINUE - MASSAGED BY TAX BENEFIT

Monsanto have been talking themselves up throughout 2004 but they still managed

to make a net loss of GBP21m (USD40m) for the fiscal first quarter ended Nov.

30.

Although they're flagging this up as a big improvement on the GBP51m (USD97

million)

loss they reported a year ago, their shares fell 3 percent.

 

However, the actual loss would have been far greater than last year if Monsanto

hadn't been able to offset a tax benefit of GBP56m. That tax benefit was itself

triggered by the losses Monsanto has been making.

 

Without the tax benefit, instead of " pruning " its losses in the last quarter

to GBP21m, they would have been a record GBP77m, i.e. 26 million pounds higher

than

even a year before.

 

Meanwhile, looming in the background is the news that the company quietly

released

during the Xmas holiday. Monsanto has been forced to set up a liability fund

following

the bankruptcy of its chemicals division, Solutia (part of the old Monsanto).

 

This reserve fund does *NOT* cover most of the liabilities that drove Solutia

into

bankruptcy, which have yet to be quantified! These include the cost of dealing

with

hazardous PCBs that spread from former Monsanto plants.

 

It's hardly surprising that a number of analysts warn that Wall Street has been

seriously overvaluing the company.

http://www.gmwatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=4771