Venezuela arrests local managers at Smurfit Kappa plant
TWO Smurfit Kappa managers arrested in Venezuela are local employees of the Irish firm, the Irish Independent has learned.
The two men were arrested for allegedly engaging in what were described by authorities of the leftist and increasingly authoritarian regime as “crimes of speculation, boycott, extraction contraband, destabilising the economy, and corruption”.
Smurfit Kappa yesterday refused to comment on reports that two of its managers have been arrested.
It comes days after the government occupied a factory and ordered the Irish company to cut prices. It has heightened fears that the plant could be nationalised, or Smurfit ordered out of the country.
It is understood that the two arrested managers are local Venezuelan employees and that no Irish nationals work at the factory.
On Thursday evening the Venezuela State Agency for Defence of Socioeconomic Rights (Sundde) said that it had arrested two Smurfit Kappa managers.
Earlier this week, Venezuela’s government ordered the temporary occupation of a Smurfit Kappa carton production unit in Carabobo state for alleged abuse of a dominant position.
Smurfit Kappa told the mar- ket on Thursday that it “entirely refutes” the allegations made against it.
“The group has operated in Venezuela since 1986 to the highest business and ethical standards,” Smurfit Kappa said, adding that the Venezuelan subsidiary of which the factory is part represented less than 1pc of its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first half of 2018.
“Smurfit Kappa will continue to monitor the situation closely,” the company said.
Despite the government stance the Irish company has support from its employees.
A number of trade unions have come out in support of Smurfit Kappa, saying the occupation was “an issue that has created unrest and uncertainty among employees and their families”. They said they wanted to “ratify our upmost support and willingness to continue working and producing with Smurfit Kappa”.