New York State Takes Action Against Companies Doing Business in the Sudan

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has announced a three-step plan to bring pressure on the government of the Sudan to end the genocide in Darfur.

Comptroller DiNapoli will be using the York State Common Retirement Fund to bring his plan into action.

He did not take these actions unilaterally, but collaborated members of the State Legislature and the Sudan Divestment Task Force.

Comptroller DiNapoli cited his responsibility as the person in charge of the pension fund to make use the fund's resources are not invested in companies that do business with the Sudan and there by support the genocide in Darfur. He also feels that investing with these companies will cause financial damage to the fund and are not good long time investments.

The plan will be put into effect with phase one starting in the next three months. It will consist of investigating and identifying a company that the fund has invested in that might be engaged in wrongful practices in the Sudan. He has sent a letter to the managers of the fund asking them to start the review process and stating that he prefers the fund to be invested in Sudan-free investments, while keeping sound investment practices in the for front.

Then, in phase two, the companies who have been identified as doing business with the Sudan will be contacted and they will be asked to withdraw from the Sudan or take action to provide aid and relief for the people of the Sudan. Comptroller DeNapoli will then review the companies to see if they have made any changes and to access whether or not to proceed to phase three.

Phase three is the time when actions will be taken against the companies who have not complied. He will look at the companies and if it is fiscally responsible to do so, begin to take measures to divest the funds resources from those companies. Even though the percentage that the fund has invested in such companies is estimated to be less than on half of one percent, it still amounts to a large sun of money as far as the individual companies are concerned.

This is not the first time a New York Comptroller has used his power to bring influence in an international situation.

In the 1990s, Comptroller Carl McCall stopped any additional pension fund investment in domestic tobacco companies.

Comptroller McCall also brought similar actions against companies operating in Northern Ireland.

New York City Comptroller Alan Hevesi won reparations for Holocaust victims.

Comptroller Regan took steps as a shareholder to address apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s.

New York State Comptroller's office http://www.osc.state.ny.us/