Bananera Noboa Demands Public Trial



With a sheet of paper in his hands, Counselor Álvaro Noboa arrived at his office, where he had called the media, to request that Bananera Noboa receive the same treatment as its competitors. “I export each box at $5 dollars”, he wrote on the paper.

“When one sees the assessment from the Internal Revenue Service, the presumed profit per box is more than $5 dollars; this means that for them, Bananera had no expenses for fruit purchase, employees, domestic transport, etc.”, he exclaimed.

The banana company is accused of not paying $90 million dollars in taxes for 2005. The IRS has charged companies such as Dole, del Monte and Chiquita, $250,000. “They consider we are making 360 times more in profits than those companies when we produce almost the same. We demand a public trial in order to be able to defend ourselves and demonstrate these absurdities… Political persecution must stop”, he emphasized. The company employs more than one hundred thousand people, both directly and indirectly.

Noboa states that they want to destroy his 50-year-old company because having been a presidential candidate. Legal representatives confirmed that they will pay taxes in accordance with the law, on equal terms with their competitors. (LCC)

http://www.diario-expreso.com/ediciones/2011/02/12/nacional/actualidad/bananera-noboa-reclama-juicio-publico/