PROMINENT businessman James Rugemalira yesterday characterised as illegal the secret transaction between Mechmar Corporation (Malaysia) Bernhad and Wartsila Nederland BV on payments of over 20bn/- on construction of 102 units for staff for the Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL).
He told Judge Salvatory Bongole at the
High Court in Dar es Salaam that the transaction had been unveiled by
provisional Liquidator, who had been appointed by the court after IPTL’s
minority shareholder, VIP Engineering and Marketing Limited, commenced
winding up proceedings.
Mr Rugemalira, the VIP Company’s
International Independent Consultant, was giving evidence in the
1trillion/- case in which the company is suing six defendants, including
Mechmar and Wartsila and Standard Chartered Bank groups, over fraud,
corporate wastes and money laundering in IPTL .
Led by an international lawyer from
America, Mr Chris Provenzano, the local businessman told the court that
the VIP Company accepted the findings and conclusions of the provisional
liquidator in particular the second interim report of December 16,
2009, that was produced in court. “I was very surprised and actually
very disturbed.
I did not want to believe all the time
that Wartsila, very highly respectable Dutch Company could contract to
pay out the secret commission to Mechmar amounting to 10 million US
dollars,” he testified.
According to him, Wartsila had also paid
itself a management fee of 474,724 US dollars and additional commission
of four percent fee of 606,000 US dollars.
The first plaintiff witness testified
further that all that time since commencement of proceedings before the
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID),
until today the Dutch Company had continued to deny that it had
committed fraud on IPTL.
He explained that he was very much
frustrated after the discovery by the provisional liquidator that after
all those years when they were trying to assist the court on the truth
behind the Tribunal’s rejecting the capital costs which were presented
by Mechmar to it on behalf of IPTL.
Mr Rugemalira testified that he had
personally been up in arms denying that IPTL had inflated the capital
costs for the power plant and held various press conferences, accusing
the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco) and the government for
refusing to accept such capital costs.
“(This) was after Wartsila had almost
completed the construction of the plant only to learn later through
these second interim reports of the provisional liquidator that indeed
the government of Tanzania and Tanesco were right.
I suffered injury which probably will
never be cured,” he said. It is indicated in the report that Wartsila
Netherlands was supposed to build 102 units of IPTL staff houses, but
only 12 were built and that those houses were constructed under a
subcontract which was subcontracted to Mechmar Heavy Industries, a
subsidiary of Mechmar.
According to the report, Mechmar who was
sole manager of IPTL whether legally and illegally at the end issued a
certificate of completion to Wartsila Netherlands when actually the work
was not completed per the contract.
“The relationship between Wartsila
Netherlands and Mechmar leaves out much to be desired. Wartsila
Netherlands and Mechmar did cheat IPTL on the issue of staff housing.
Who pocketed the money for the 90 units’ staff housing which were not
built?” reads part of the report by the provisional liquidator.
Apart from the monetary compensation,
VIP Engineering Company also seeks in the case which involves biggest
amount in the judiciary’s history, for a declaration that the company
and IPTL have suffered substantial loss and damages as a result of the
defendants’ actions and conduct.
The plaintiff is requesting the court to
declare that neither the Banks nor their agents have ever legally been
creditors of IPTL and defendants committed fraud, money laundering,
corporate waste and oppression, diversion of funds and conversion of
IPTL and VIP property, as a result of their conducts.
No comments :
Post a Comment