OTHER NEWS - Sept. 28, 1995

Report of ADM Plea Agreement Denied: The Justice Department has denied published reports that Mark Whitacre, the fired senior executive of Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. who also worked as a government informant, has agreed to plead guilty to federal felony charges. “There is no plea agreement at this time and no discussions of a plea agreement at this time,” said John Russell, a Justice Department spokesman. However, sources knowledgeable about the investigation say Whitacre confessed last month to crimes involving income tax evasion and defrauding shareholders of the company in relation to secret payments Whitacre is said to have received from the company in a Swiss bank account. Decatur, Ill.-based ADM, the world’s largest processor of corn, soybeans and other agricultural products, is the focus of an inquiry into allegations of price-fixing by the company and of tax evasion and fraud by its executives. The company issued a statement Tuesday denying that it made “any illegal off-the-books compensation.”