Swiss food giant Nestlé fined for infiltrating activist group

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Independent

Swiss food giant Nestlé fined for infiltrating activist group
Wednesday 30 January 2013

The Swiss food giant Nestlé was ordered to pay SFr 27,000 (£18,700) compensation after being found liable in a civil case over the secret infiltration of an activist group that had campaigned against it.

A court ruled last week in favour of anti-globalisation group Attac, following revelations that Nestlé had hired the Swiss security company Securitas AG to infiltrate its meetings.

A spokesman for Nestlé noted the judge's decision "with disappointment" and reiterated "that incitement to infiltration is against Nestlé's corporate business principles".


Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/swiss-food-giant-nestl-fined-for-infiltrating-activist-group-8474189.html

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(Short article, no more at link.)

[Judi Lynn]

1. Nestlé found liable over spying on NGO

Nestlé found liable over spying on NGO
By James Shotter and Louise Lucas, FT.com
updated 10:43 PM EST, Wed January 30, 2013

(Financial Times) -- Nestlé, whose clashes with activists over sales of baby milk formula in Africa led to widespread boycotts in the 1980s, has been found liable in a civil case over the secret infiltration of a non-governmental organisation.

A Swiss court last week ordered Nestlé and the Swiss security company Securitas AG to pay compensation following revelations that an infiltrator had attended "workgroup" meetings of Attac, an anti-globalisation group. Some of those meetings took place at members' homes.

The world's biggest food company has been at pains to repair relations with NGOs since the milk formula debacle, which led to new health regulations on its marketing.

The rise of social media and rapid dissemination of any wrongdoings -- and a new generation of more socially conscious consumers -- has further encouraged the maker of KitKats and its peers to address issues ranging from child labour on cocoa farms to saving water. Such initiatives are often carried out in partnership with NGOs.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/30/business/swizterland-nestle-spying-civil-case/

[Scairp]

10. Hey CNN, way to GO on the research

Securitas is a Swedish company, not Swiss, and boy do I know that as well as my own name.

[Democracyinkind]

11. You're thinking of Securitas AB (Sweden).. Securitas, the company mentioned in the article, is swiss

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Separate companies

Securitas AG is a Swiss family company providing security services with head office in Zollikofen, regional offices in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Lugano, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Olten, St. Gallen, Thun and Zürich as well as 25 other branches all over Switzerland.

Securitas AG is part of the Swiss Securitas Group and not to be confused with the Swedish company Securitas AB, which owns the Swiss competitor Protectas AG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitas_%28Swiss_security_company%29

[SunSeeker]

2. Wow, they sent corporate goons to spy in people's homes. Sick.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. Betcha Securitas AG got lots of phone calls from other companies.

[Blue_Tires]

17. yeah, I'm thinking Securitas has a long history of experience in this sort of thing...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. I'm thinking of how stupid the companies are who make that call since they were found out.

[rhett o rick]

4. Nestle wants to control your water. Be sure you know who has the control

now.

[leveymg]

5. Nestle has been doing this kind of thing for decades. eom

[lexw]

6. WHAT???? WOW!

Years ago I had an Environment and Man class in college, and the professor went into a tirade over Nestle's careless sales of their dried baby formula to 3rd world countries—children were suffering malnutrition because mothers were diluting the dried formula with massive amounts of water, because they couldn't afford buying more of the product...and Nestle could care less.

[azurnoir]

7. as to the baby formula it was worse than that

it was sometimes being mixed with unsafe water and babies were dying of diarrhea and dehydration in some areas

[lunasun]

8. But I thought this kind of stuff never really happens!!!

well at least not with any American companies or Big AG rest assured!

[Judi Lynn]

9. Nestlé Found Guilty of Spying on Swiss Activists

Nestlé Found Guilty of Spying on Swiss Activists
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
January 30th, 2013

Nestlé, the world’s largest food company, has been found guilty of spying on Swiss activists in 2003 with the help of Securitas, a private security company. Jean-Luc Genillard, president of the Lausanne civil court, told the two companies to pay 3,000 Swiss Francs ($3,267.55) to each of nine victims.

Vevey, Switzerland, based Nestlé sells $91 billion worth of products a year such as Nescafé coffee, KitKat chocolates and Maggi noodles. The company has frequently been criticized for marketing baby food in poor countries in violation of a 1981 World Health Organization code that regulates the advertising of breast milk substitutes. It has also come under fire from Greenpeace for using palm oil grown on deforested land in Borneo and buying cocoa beans from plantations that used child labor in Cote d’Ivoire in a film entitled “The Dark Side of Chocolate."

In 2003, a group of activists with the Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour l'Aide aux Citoyens (ATTAC) in Vaud, Switzerland, started working on a book on the global policies of Nestlé. At the time a Securitas employee started to attend meetings using the false name of Sara Meylan.

In June 2008, Temps Présent, a Swiss TV program, revealed that the Securitas agent had briefed Nestlé security personnel as well as corporate communications staff about the ATTAC meetings she attended including ones that were held in activist homes. Securitas also provided this information to the local police.

More:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15812

[fasttense]

12. Corporations acting as a sovereign nation.

When will they drop the facade and just take total control of our country?