FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1995                         (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

   DENVER POLYPROPYLENE BAG COMPANY CHARGED WITH DEFRAUDING THE
  GOVERNMENT IN SUPPLYING BAGS TO SHIP GRAIN TO NEEDY COUNTRIES


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal antitrust prosecutors charged a
Denver manufacturer and distributor of polypropylene bags today
with conspiring to defraud the United States by misleading the
U.S. Department of Agriculture while bidding on contracts to
supply bags to ship grain to needy countries.  
     In a one-count felony charge filed in the U.S. District
Court in Denver, the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division
charged Fulton-Denver Company with conspiring to submit false
certificates of product origin on bids for USDA polypropylene bag
contracts.  The certificates stated that the polypropylene bags
supplied to the USDA were of domestic origin, when, in fact, the
bags were manufactured outside the United States.  USDA had
required that all polypropylene bags be manufactured in the
United States.  These polypropylene bags are made of a plastic
woven material which are porous enough to let air through but
tight enough to prevent the grain from escaping.
     On at least five USDA contract bids from June 1992 through
September 1993, Fulton-Denver supplied about 800,000
polypropylene bags manufactured outside the United States.  
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said the charge resulted from a
continuing federal grand jury investigation of bid rigging and
related violations in polypropylene bag contracts let by the
USDA.  The case was filed by the Antitrust Division's
Philadelphia Field Office with the assistance of the USDA's
Office of Inspector General.
     The maximum penalty for a corporation upon conviction of a
violation of 18 U.S.C. 371 is a fine of $500,000.          
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