Chiquita Brands, the American multinational food giant, has admitted to a court in the United States that it paid Colombian terrorists to protect its banana plantations.

The admission of guilt is part of a plea bargain that involves a $25 million (£12.8 million) fine but fails to implicate individual executives involved in the protection payments.

Chiquita, a leading banana producer in Latin America, voluntarily disclosed the payments to the Justice Department in April 2003. According to the company, the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) made threats against its workers and it made the payments to protect its employees.

The plea agreement does not cover company executives who authorised the payments and continued them even after the Justice Department told them to stop, Jonathan Malis, an assistant US attorney, told the court in Washington.

Company officials may face extradition to Colombia to face criminal charges there.

Prosecutors in the United States have accused Chiquita Brands of hiring the AUC, which was designated a terrorist organisation by Washington in 2001.

Chiquita said that it had been forced to make the payments and had acted only to ensure the safety of its clients. The company sold Banadex, the Colombian subsidiary, in 2004.

Prosecutors accused the company of making $825,000 in illegal payments between 2001 and 2004, at a time when the Colombian operation was earning $49 million. “Funding a terrorist organisation can never be treated as a cost of doing business,” Jeffrey Taylor, the US attorney, said.

Prosecutors have also accused Chiquita of making payments to the left-wing National Liberation Army, or ELN, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc.

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