Avoiding Their Day In Court
The Bush administration has increasingly employed so-called deferred prosecutions of American corporations accused of criminal liability, The New York Times reported.
As an example, The Times points to a case involving the agricultural giant, Monsanto, where one of its consultants has been accused of trying to bribe an Indonesian official into weakening environmental regulations to help with the growth of the company’s cotton crops. The company was subsequently accused of trying to cover up the consultant’s actions. “A few years earlier, in the age of Enron, these kinds of charges would probably have resulted in a criminal indictment,” Eric Lichtblau reports for The Times. “Instead, Monsanto was allowed to pay $1 million and avoid criminal prosecution by entering into a monitoring agreement with the Justice Department.”
The newspaper reports that “many companies” have avoided defending themselves in court because of these types of agreements with the Justice Department and that deferred prosecutions “have become a favorite tool of the Bush administration.” Supporters of the deferred prosecutions told The Times that the setups have gotten a bad rap, claiming that “they play a crucial role in allowing the government to secure the cooperation of a company while avoiding the time, expense and uncertainty of trail.” Other critics, however, say that financial institutions, and in particular those under scrutiny for their involvement in the subprime mortgage crisis, are increasingly pushing the limits of corporate anti-fraud laws.