Chapter 84 Court Confrontation
"We don't know the basis of Ms. Zoe's accusation. The Fraternity Africa Foundation is a purely charitable organization. Apart from the transit center in Italy, we have shipped all the purchased grain to Somalia. It is stored in the storage and transportation center designated for us by the United Nations. As for why there are so many 7 million tons, because most of it is old grain, so With a long history, a lot of grain can only be used for feed production and cannot be eaten anymore, so we will treat most of the purchased grain reserves as raw materials for feed production at low prices to some companies that are willing to accept them, and use this part of the proceeds to buy some New food, medicines, and other supplies have been added, so the actual aid food sent to Africa must not be 7 million tons. After all, the disaster victims in Africa are the same people as us, and they cannot eat moldy food anyway. We have already A lawsuit was filed with the New York District Court..." When the incident became more and more out of hand, the Fraternity Africa Foundation finally responded. They explained that most of the 7 million tons of grains were old grains that could not be eaten, so although the Fraternity Africa Foundation The society exported 7 million tons of grain, but only a small part of it was used by people. The words of the Fraternity Africa Foundation barely make sense, but now the American people obviously believe more in the words of Zoe and the New York Times.
Just after the Fraternity Africa Foundation responded and fought back, the American Farmers Association also stood up, and they also denied the accusations made against them by the New York Times. However, the position of the American Farmers Association is not on the side of the Fraternity Africa Foundation. They claim that they are only financial donors and have no knowledge of the specific operation of the Fraternity Africa Foundation. The remarks of the American Farmers Association are like staying out of the matter. Although they made a fortune in the grain trade with Sergesha, they were unwilling to take responsibility for something that happened.
The third to stand up against the "New York Times" is Mediterranean Shipping Company. They have denied numerous links to the Mafia. The ship's queen, Tonya, went to the United States in person, and she sued the New York Times and Zoe in the name of both herself and the company. Ask them to restore the reputation of MSC and apologize.
These three consecutive lawsuits have eased the pressure of public opinion on the grain case for the Sergei faction. Gradually unified the caliber and shifted all the responsibility to the "New York Times" and female reporter Zoe's framing. These three lawsuits temporarily trapped Zoe's hands and feet. In order to deal with the lawsuits, she could not spare her energy to continue to investigate the truth behind the food case. The "New York Times" also fell into the same situation. Because of the huge influence of the "New York Times" in the United States, the lawyer team hired by Sergey Shalisha applied to the New York District Court for a news prohibition order during this period. Because the lawyers believe that if the "New York Times" continues to publish articles against the plaintiff during the trial, it will be unfair to the trial of the case and may affect the jury's verdict. This reason is legally tenable, so the New York District Court agreed to the request of the lawyers.
The Congress, for fear of being accused of shielding the Reagan administration, fully disclosed the investigative hearings to the media. CNN even broadcast the hearing live. Congressional hearings are different from court hearings. Their sole purpose is to reveal the truth of the matter.
And it launched an investigation into the government about the role played by the US Department of Agriculture in this incident. Although the Congress is relatively large, his hearings are only to convene relevant parties to explain the situation, and do not involve trial matters.
Investigators commissioned by Seryozha quickly figured out Zoe's family background. Zoe was born in an elite family in the United States. His father was a diplomat and his mother was a freelance writer. Zoe has been wandering around the world with her parents since she was a child. She can speak multiple languages. After graduating from college, Zoe worked for the New York Times for a while, and then left the United States to become a freelance reporter.
It can be seen from Zoe's family environment that Zoe doesn't know much about agriculture. So according to this feature, the lawyers of Sergei Sha's family decided to test Zoe's depth. So during a court hearing, the lawyer of Mediterranean Shipping took out two handfuls of grains and put them in front of Zoe, and asked her: "Ms. Zoe, one of the two handfuls of grains in front of you is Barley, can you tell the difference?"
"This one?" Zoe said without thinking, pointing to one of the larger ones.
"I'm sorry I lied to you, but these two handfuls are actually different varieties of wheat?" the lawyer continued to ask.
"Hehe, I'm sorry for your wrong answer, but it's understandable. After all, you are not an American who grew up on a farm. In fact, it's normal for you not to know each other. If I didn't know in advance, it would be difficult for me to distinguish between the two. Planting grains! Ms. Zoe, do you know what barley is used for in Europe? I have consulted agricultural experts. Barley is not used as the main food in Europe, but is used as fodder! In view of Ms. Zoe, your interest in grain The identification of varieties lacks sufficient knowledge, and we have reason to suspect that Ms. Zoe does not know whether the grains in the photos he provided are really wheat, let alone whether the wheat is produced in the United States..." Sergey Sha The lawyer hired by a lot of money caught in court that Zoe did not have agricultural knowledge and began to pursue it fiercely. Zoe claimed that MSC was assisting Youai Africa in smuggling American wheat to the Soviet Union. First of all, she wanted to prove that she provided in the article It is almost impossible that the food captured in the photo is actually wheat produced in the United States. So this lawsuit is not worth fighting.
Zoe was involved in several consecutive lawsuits, and Zoe was unable to leave the United States to continue the investigation. So Zoe contacted Jimmy who was about to return home from Turkey. Zoe told Jimmy about the situation on the phone, and then Zoe said to Jimmy: "Jimmy, these damned guys have dragged me with lawsuits, and now we can only rely on you! Jimmy, don't go back to your country, go to Somalia Investigate the food storage and distribution center of the United Nations Relief Agency, the Fraternity Africa Foundation said that they have a large amount of food stockpiled there, I don't believe it, as long as you can prove that they are lying, they are finished!"
"Okay, Zoe! Take care of yourself, I won't let you down! By the way Zoe, I found new evidence in Turkey, Abdul Kately goes to Italy once a month, I think There must be some dark secret in it!" Jimmy replied on the phone.