ZAMBIA-ZIMBABWE: Little hope of lost maize millions being repaid

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
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ZAMBIA-ZIMBABWE: Little hope of lost maize millions being repaid

JOHANNESBURG, 10 May (IRIN) - Ari Ben-Menashe, the man at the centre of
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's treason case, has been
ordered to repay millions of dollars to the Zambian goverment in a maize
deal gone wrong, the Financial Gazette reported.

However, the Zambian government is unlikely to see the US $6 million plus
interest the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) ordered repaid
after as Ben-Menashe's Carlington Sales Company, which was contracted to
supply 50,000 mt of maize in the late 90's, has been liquidated.

Ben-Menashe's name hit headlines this year when Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai and two others were arrested for allegedly
plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai met Ben-Menashe with a
view to hiring his public relations company Dickens and Madson to improve
the MDC's image abroad. He was then secretly filmed saying he wanted to
"eliminate" Mugabe, leading to the treason charges.

The Financial Gazette reported that the 50,000 mt of maize was never
delivered. South African bank Nedcor, acting on behalf of the Zambian
government asked the court to get the money back.

However, despite the positive judgment, Willem Kruger, Nedcor's head for
legal affairs said: "We are unable to effect our rights in terms of the
arbitration because Carlington has liquidated itself."

The maize scandal goes back to 1997 when the government decided to buy
100,000 mt of maize through the Canadian based Carlington Sales Company at a
price lower than the Zambian price. Ten percent of the final price of US $24
million was forwarded by the Bank of Zambia to cover shipping costs but the
maize never arrived. The contract was renegotiated several times as the
Zambian government battled to raise the money. Eventually US $5.24 was paid
for 50,000 mt but still the maize never arrived.

An additional US $2 million was allegedly paid to Ben-Menashe on the orders
of former president Frederick Chiluba so that Ben-Menashe's public relations
company could lobby for investment in Zambia's mines.

However, the newspaper said Ben-Menashe claimed that he was forced to bribe
many Zambians and claimed that former opposition politician Paul Tembo was
murdered because he was going to testify on his behalf. The judge rejected
his offers to provide evidence of this calling it a delaying tactic.

The LCIA ordered Ben Menashe to pay Nedcor, to whom the Zambian government
had ceded the contract, US $4,988,508 for breach of contract plus interest
of US $1,120,313. He was also ordered to pay the court costs, the newspaper
reported.

Kruger said Nedcor was currently trying to recover some of the money from
the Carlington liquidation process.

Reacting to news of the court settlement rights monitoring group Afronet
chief executive Ngande Mwanajiti told IRIN: "The Zambian government hasn't
done anything about it. The people involved are still serving in
government."

[ENDS]

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