Greenpeace USA today called for a full Congressional investigation of Koch Industries and the illegal practices detailed in the Bloomberg Markets Magazine piece, “Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales.”

The Bloomberg coverage reveals multiple allegations of Koch Industries bribing government officials around the world and doing business with Iran. In a Huffington Post blog announcing the call for Congress to investigate Koch, Greenpeace USA Executive Director Phil Radford writes, “this new [Bloomberg] investigation reveals a blatant disregard for our laws, so today Greenpeace has called for a full Congressional investigation of Koch Industries and the illegal practices detailed in the Bloomberg report.” 

Greenpeace has extensively documented the Koch brothers’ key role in backing the climate denial machine and other nefarious Koch Industries behavior. Now the Bloomberg revelations raise the heat even further on the $50-billionaire-brothers David and Charles Koch. 

Here is the text of the letter that Phil Radford, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, sent today to key members of Congress:

Senator Lieberman and Congressman Issa:
 

In light of the recent Bloomberg Markets Magazine investigative report on Koch Industries’ secretive business dealings with Iran, corruption and illicit payments in obtaining contracts, falsifying documents on air pollution and other questionable business operations, we call on you to launch a full congressional investigation into the practices exposed in the report.

 

The allegations reported by Bloomberg about Koch’s business deals with Iran, run through a German subsidiary, are similar to the arrangements discovered between Halliburton and Iran, which were conducted through overseas subsidiaries, in a manner designed to skirt the letter of the law and thereby undermine U.S. foreign policy objectives.

 

Corporations like Koch Industries are granted the right to operate as a business under U.S. law. When corporations choose to routinely circumvent or break the law, our government has the duty to penalize that illegal activity with appropriate sanctions. When the corporation’s illegal activities demonstrate a broad pattern of deliberate continued violations despite repeated sanctions and penalties – it becomes incumbent upon the government to take more aggressive action, such as revoking the corporate charter that allows them to continue to operate as a business.

 

We are calling for a full investigation into Koch Industries’ alleged activities, such that our representatives, government officials and the citizens of the United States have full knowledge of their illicit business practices and can decide on the appropriate course of action.

 

Sincerely,

 

Phillip Radford

Executive Director

Greenpeace USA

 

CC: Rep. Henry Waxman, Senator John Kerry, Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator Carl Levin, Senator Patrick Leahy