BFF-06 Venezuela arrests two in ‘temporary’ Smurfit Kappa plant takeover

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VENEZUELA-ECONOMY-COMPANY-IRELAND-SMURFITKAPPA

Venezuela arrests two in ‘temporary’ Smurfit Kappa plant takeover

CARACAS, Aug 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The Venezuelan government on Thursday
took what it called “temporary” control of a plant belonging to the Irish
paper packaging company Smurfit Kappa and detained two workers, authorities
said.

The state price control agency, known by its acronym Sundde, said the two
unnamed employees were being held on suspicion of “price speculation,
boycotting, destabilizing the economy and smuggling contraband.”

The agency said it was taking over the plant in Carabobo state on a
“temporary” basis — without saying how long that period would last.

The government in Caracas accuses the company — one of the world’s
leading producers of paper-based packaging — of using its “dominance” in the
sector to “sabotage” local production.

Sundde says the company had refused to sell its goods to at least one
local company — and thus was guilty of an illegal boycott.

The government in Caracas — facing crippling hyperinflation — has
launched a series of audits of food companies, supermarkets and other
businesses, with the help of police and soldiers, that it accuses of price
speculation.

In a statement, Dublin-based Smurfit Kappa said the group “entirely refutes
these allegations and believes them to be without merit.”

“The group has operated in Venezuela since 1986 to the highest business
and ethical standards,” it added.

Smurfit Kappa has about 46,000 employees at about 370 production sites in
35 countries, according to its website. There are about 2,500 workers at the
facility in Venezuela.

This is not the first time the government of President Nicolas Maduro has
occupied facilities belonging to foreign firms.

In July 2016, he ordered the takeover of a plant run by US consumer goods
giant Kimberly-Clark in Aragua state, after the company ceased production
because it said it could not get enough hard currency to buy raw materials.

The site is still in Venezuelan government hands.

BSS/AFP/RY/08:15 hrs