20 Dec 2005

Philippines cigarette maker fined heavily for breaking Marianas tobacco law

3:50 pm on 20 December 2005

A cigarette manufacturing company in the Philippines has been ordered to pay 1 POINT 9 million US dollars to the Northern Marianas government, for breaking local tobacco laws.

The Saipan Tribune newspaper reports the Superior Court of the CNMI has also banned the Fortune Tobacco Corporation from selling cigarettes in the country.

The Northern Marianas require tobacco companies to make a deposit into a special fund for each cigarette they sell in in the CNMI.

Fortune Tobacco has been selling more than 10 million cigarettes each year in the CNMI since 2003.