The {Canadian} federal government is suing big tobacco companies for $1.5 billion, alleging that they engaged in a "massive conspiracy" to smuggle cigarettes.
A lawsuit filed yesterday against 13 tobacco companies, including JTI-Macdonald Corp., says the government is seeking damages for "fraud, deceit, fraudulent misrepresentation, spoilation and civil conspiracy."
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The lawsuit claims company officials recruited natives from the St. Regis Mohawk/Akwesasne Indian reservation in the early 1990s to take contraband cigarettes across the border, wooing them with fishing and golfing trips and lavish entertainment.
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At the time of the alleged smuggling, JTI-Macdonald was a subsidiary of RJR International and was known as RJR-Macdonald.
One official "repeatedly visited Akwesasne to assist and monitor the smuggling. (He) provided detailed reports of his visits, sometimes in writing, to the RJR-Macdonald operating committee. At least one report included particulars on inventories, market penetration and photographs.
"RJR Group executives were instructed to associate and socialize with smugglers in order to improve business relations and ensure the success of the scheme."
The document goes on to claim those executives regularly entertained smugglers at a B.C. lodge and treated them as "prized partners and customers."
"They invited smugglers on fishing and golfing trips and spent lavishly on entertainment. The RJR Group even took the smugglers to Puerto Rico to tour its production facilities there," it says.
Valerie Lawton Toronto Star Aug. 14, 2003
