Adm Chairman Denies Wrongdoing

The chairman of Archer Daniels Midland Co. denies he or other top officials ever approved illegal bonus payments to four ousted executives, including the man who helped a government probe of price-fixing at the grain processor.

Dwayne Andreas, speaking out for the first time, told The Wall Street Journal that ADM’s auditing firm, Ernst & Young, has “never found any inadequacies with respect to financial controls.”

Mark E. Whitacre, the fired head of ADM’s BioProducts Division, has contended he received about $6 million through phony invoices as part of a bonus system approved by company executives. Reinhard Richter, the fired head of the company’s Mexican division, has said ADM President James Randall approved a secret $190,000 signing bonus for joining the company.