Comment

Gibson Guitar Raid-Right or Wrong?

10
blueraven10/14/2011 11:41:37 am PDT

re: #9 Rightwingconspirator

Where is your proof they lied?

Its all over the place. Here is one source

The investigation that led to the searches last week began when a customs official intercepted an air shipment of 1,250 ebony fingerboards in Dallas on June 22, according to an affidavit filed in support of the search warrant. The shipment was mislabeled as “finished parts of musical instruments,” which are legal to export, the affidavit said.

The paperwork with the shipment did not say the wood was going to Gibson Guitar Corporation in Nashville. Agents from the Fish and Wildlife Service interviewed officials at a Canadian import company listed on a manifest and a storage company in Nashville where the wood was to be warehoused. They determined that the Gibson factories were the final destination.

The affidavit maintains that unfinished fingerboard blanks that are more than a centimeter thick cannot be exported under Indian law; only finished pieces of veneer, about half as thick can be exported. The intent of the law is to protect woodworking jobs in India.

artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com

If you dont like that one, another from the WSJ

After the 2009 raid, Gibson stopped buying wood from Madagascar. Gibson continued to use suppliers in India for ebony and rosewood.

As for last week’s raid, the government said it had evidence that Indian ebony was “fraudulently” labeled in an attempt to evade an Indian ban on exports of unfinished wood.

“It is very possible that a broker made the mistake in filling out a form,” Mr. Juszkiewicz said. Gibson says the ebony was partially finished for use as fingerboards and that Indian officials have endorsed such exports as legal. A spokesman for India’s commerce ministry had no immediate comment.

online.wsj.com