Now controversial Richmond company resurfaces
THISDAY REPORTER
Dar es Salaam
THE controversial Richmond Development Company (RDEVCO) resurfaced yesterday, claiming to have no links with former prime minister Edward Lowassa who resigned last week after being implicated in a major corruption scandal involving the US-based company.
No RDEVCO executive team member, nor any RDEVCO employee, has ever had a relationship of any kind with (Prime Minister) Lowassa, says part of a press release faxed to THISDAY by the company.
The unsigned press statement, dated February 8 this year, says neither the president of Richmond, Dr Mohammed Huque, the companys manager, Mohamed Gire, nor any employee of RDEVCO has ever even met the prime minister (Lowassa).
The statement, which was supposedly issued on Friday - a day after Lowassas resignation - arrived in our newsroom yesterday by fax from Houston, Texas.
Richmond also said the total value of the contract negotiated with the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) was just $83m (approx. 98bn/-), and not $172m as reported in local media reports.
The government of Tanzania has not made a single payment to RDEVCO for the emergency power plant project, says the statement issued by one Ms Claudine Lllg on behalf of the Richmond company.
The company stated that it had not paid out bribes to any Tanzanian government official to facilitate the deal.
RDEVCO has not drawn down even one penny from a government issued Letter of Credit. Neither RDEVCO nor any of its employees have received a single penny from, or paid a penny to, the government of Tanzania or any of its officials, said the statement.
Richmond, which was uncovered by a parliamentary investigation as a mailbox or briefcase company with no registration either in Tanzania or the US, defended itself as a reputable US company in good standing and has no prior record of wrongdoing.
The statement said the companys two principal officers, Huque and Gire, were interviewed by an unnamed official from the US Department of Commerce in January 2007.
The interview and site visit satisfied US authorities of RDEVCOs efficacy, said the statement, without revealing the identity of the US official who made the site visit, nor disclosing the companys registration number and status.
The Richmond statement further claimed that the Tanzanian government formed numerous special committees to investigate the project between October 2006 and November 2007 but could not find evidence of any illegal or unethical business being conducted by RDEVCO.
The RDEVCO team has worked on successful projects on four different continents, said the statement, again not mentioning any specific countries and projects where the suspected briefcase company has worked.
The press release issued by Richmond was purportedly faxed from the companys headquarters on 5825 Schumacher Lane, Houston, Texas 77057. Its other listed contacts are phone (713) 952-3472 and fax (713) 952-0932.
Gire is quoted as saying in the statement that he has not personally seen the parliamentary report on the Richmond scandal.
First, I want to say that I have not seen the committee report mentioned in conjunction with prime minister Lowassas resignation. I and members of my staff have been working diligently to obtain a copy of the report from the Tanzanian parliament, Gire was quoted as saying.
He said RDEVCO would issue a complete and thorough response once it has received and reviewed the report.
On the companys website, Gire is described as a prominent businessman and active private investor in emerging high-tech companies and offshore real estate and infrastructure sectors.
He reportedly also serves on numerous boards and commissions, including Houstons Mayoral Advisory Board for International Affairs and Development.
Dr Huque is said to have over 25 years experience in the energy infrastructure sector, and for the last seven years has been a successful developer of infrastructure projects totalling $500m.
In its final report, a parliamentary committee formed to investigate the Richmond deal said there was sufficient evidence suggesting that Lowassa and Igunga legislator Rostam Aziz had personal business interests in the Richmond contract.
It was uncovered that the postal and e-mail addresses of a company owned by Rostam, Caspian Construction Company Ltd, was being used by Dowans Holdings S.A, a little-known company from the United Arab Emirates that inherited the Richmond contract.