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(NYASATIMES) Chikaonda, Anadkat miraculously saved from criminal investigation in M320m collusion scandal

Chikaonda, Anadkat miraculously saved from criminal investigation in M320m collusion scandal
By Joshua Chisa Mbele
August 17, 2012

The death of Dr Bingu wa Mutharika saved Dr Mathews Chikaonda and his HitechAnadkat from being arrested following the investigations conducted by Reserve Bank of Malawi.

As a matter of introduction and background. I write in my personal capacity as the Founding Member of Ulalo Group of Companies with interests in diversified sectors of economy on two Continents, namely Asia and Africa. Ulalo Group has investments and operates in South Africa, China and Malawi. I’m, therefore, suitably well-informed to shed true light on matters surrounding Ulalo Malawi, its success, challenges and failures if any at all.

Background.I have stayed outside the country for than 2 decades. Before going into business, I worked with world-class organisations ranging from Manufacturing, Engineering, Mining, Information Technology and Telecommunication. I, therefore, have a well-balanced understanding of business and how the corporate world is supposed to operate. Mine are skills horned on the floor. Not evangelical or theoretical.

Chikaonda

Despite my longer stay outside the country, Malawi remains closer to my heart. That is the land of my brothers and sisters, the land of my ancestors. I have refused to acquire any Citizenship of any country. I remain committed to my country and proudly Malawian. I share a view that says Malawi has suffered for a long time and we must do everything possible to fight the scourge of poverty. Eradicate it in its entirety. Within our lifetime, Malawi must rise and join rich nations. That’s my position. That’s my dream.

With that in mind, I consistently look for any opportunities available in Malawi with a view to invest. To create sustainable jobs. To facilitate funding for other organizations. To spearhead technology transfers. I look for fellow Malawians with a view to empower them. I look for Corporate Partners with a view for shared growth and synergies for greater good of our economy.

Ulalo Capital Investments (Malawi) is the holding company with shares in a number of listed companies in Malawi. Our direct and largest investment being in Telecommunication. TNM. It was here where we also suffered losses due to unsympathetic collusion of TNM Directors. Much of this saga has been articulated in the past. I gave a detailed radio interview with Brian Banda of Capital FM on Straight talk. The records still exist in their archives.

Following that interview, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Malawi contacted me with a view to ascertain some of the allegations or revelations that I made. On 22nd March I landed at Lilongwe International Airport and was whisked away from VIP lounge to a secure location with 12 hour security for my personal protection. I had interviews with Reserve Bank officials that included the governor, legal advisers, financial analysts and everybody relevant to hear the matter. After two days of grilling interviews and submissions of documentation, I returned to South Africa.

A week later they informed me that my submissions and testimonies stood the test and there was reason to believe that TNM Directors had indeed acted in a criminal manner. Reserve Bank as the final Regulator of Financial Services in the country, they would seek redress and proceed with criminal investigation and prosecution. They formerly wrote to TNM to seek their position and TNM was given 10 days to reply. The Reserve Bank completed the report and submitted to the Office of President and Cabinet so that final determination could be made to refer the matter to Anti-Corruption Bureau. (ACB)

With change of leadership at the Reserve Bank of Malawi, I’m informed that Ulalo should not drag the Bank into commercial issues between two willing parties that engaged in a transaction. Ulalo should follow a legal route to recover losses if it has a case against the other. This is an amazing U-turn that requires no further comment.

Another body that approached me for clarity on the matter was SOCAM. When I was in Lilongwe I met the CEO who also demanded so much of evidence of what I had uttered. I provided every piece of evidence ranging from commitment correspondences between Ulalo and TNM Directors, Transaction documentation, money transfers records including official letter stating reasons why they reneged on the agreement. It is in black and white. They informed us that government interference was to blame. Reserve Bank was mentioned in that letter. SOCAM has an Ethics Committee that investigates any alleged misconduct of their members. In our particular matter, members have failed to meet. In my view, the Ethics Committee members are conflicted, too scared, corrupted or simply ineffective to do anything considering the prominence of the individuals concerned.

The evidence of wrong doing is overwhelming on TNM Directors. The perpetrators had to find a small bush to hide. Last week, Nyasa Times published Joshua Mbele Expose’ in order to deflect attention and assassinate the character of the complainant because there were obvious blatant lies in that article hence the author was generic. Fortunately, the entire article had closer resemblance to the email I received from Dr Chikaonda on 27th March this year in which it was demanded that I withdrew my allegations or stand to be exposed and humiliated. It was like blackmail. I refused but instead showed him that the contents were defective and inaccurate. I gave full response and attached documents to prove my position. So the Nyasa Times article was not something new to me. I expected it. The author is well known in this regard.

Readers may not have known this; every aspect in the article was tested in the High Court Commercial Case between Standard Bank Malawi and Southern Africa Enterprise Development Fund (SAEDF) which provided Capital to Ulalo in Malawi. I was the key witness in that Case. Under intense cross-examination, SADEF legal Counsel tried to portray me as unreliable witness by asking much of the stuff which was later harvested and appeared in the so called Expose’, I competently answered all the questions. Last month, end July to be precise, the High Court delivered Judgment. Standard Bank won the case. My testimony stood the test and cross examination. SAEDF was found to be simply a bad liar. Dishonesty litigant. The Expose of Joshua Mbele was based on dishonesty sources of information that had dismally failed to dent my standing. The harvesters of information had no full understanding of issues at hand and were not aware that SAEDF had just lost the case.

I had protracted legal wrangling with both the Funder and Ulalo Shareholders. They had suspected that MK320m transaction was collusion between me and Chikaonda. I defended Chikaonda much as I defended myself. I defended Chikaonda based on faith and trust I had in him as a person though I had troubled conscience. They alleged that I must have bought shares at an inflated price and received a kick-back thus defrauding my own company. Nothing could be true. Nothing was done outside Ulalo Board mandate. We were faced with huge Forex losses. The perpetrators had calculated their moves and we were in a fix or catch-22 situation thus we do we are doomed. We don’t do we are still doomed.

Everything said and done, Ulalo settled its full obligations to SAEDF. We paid back more than MK840m in cash and shares. It was an outside Court Settlement agreed by both parties. The Settlement was only baptized by the court. Ulalo was left with just under MK100m net assets. We still have these assets.

In Summary and closing, I want to state something obvious. The Rule of Law must prevail in Malawi. The Lady Justice must be truly blind. People should be held accountable for their actions regardless of their standing in the society. We have Captains of the economy who are lacking in standing and integrity. Captains who are doing more harm to the country yet nobody can touch them because their influence is far reaching and felt in all corners and bedrooms of the country. The losses we suffered drained us of our enthusiasm to woo direct foreign investments into the country. It created bad record. It left bad taste in our mouth.

In a democracy, nobody should be above the law; nothing should be swept under the carpet. I, therefore, urge the authorities to proceed with Ulalo-TNM investigations so that the truth is finally established. It’s good for their names, good for TNM Brand and Good for Ulalo. Confidence in the market is what Malawi needs.

As a TNM Shareholder who was misled to a tune of MK320m by men of honour, I suspect dubious dealings happened in the allocation of TNM shares to those connected to each other. I would not be surprised if some people never paid for the shares but made massive financial gains. I would not be surprised if some people cheated in their declarations of capital gains and never paid due taxes to the government. Let us allow thorough forensic investigation to bring some confidence back. Let us follow the money trails and see where we may end.

As TNM Shareholder, I’m extremely uncomfortable with the close relationship between Hitesh Anadkat and Dr Chikaonda considering how they successfully trapped Ulalo into MK320m transaction that benefitted Hitesh Business.

As TNM Shareholder, I do not want Mr Hitesh Anadkat to deputise Chikaonda as Chairman of TNM. Let other competent independent professionals fill that role for the sake of Corporate Governance. The business connections between TNM and Livingstone Empire are too many to be true and a source of main concern. TNM IPO wiped people’s savings making them financial nightmares except for Livingstone that made huge profits based on nothing but manipulation, inside trading and collusion.

*The author is Joshua Chisa Mbele, Chief Executive of Ulalo Capital Investments Group.

Labels: BINGU WA MUTHARIKA, CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 3:30 AM