(April 0, 2012, Addis Ababa)--The managing director of an Italian heavy machinery supply company, SAFET S.P.A, which has been accused of presenting forged documentations and supplying sub-standard products to a local importer, was detained here on Wednesday.
The case dates to almost 8 years with the plaintiff, Lubar Industry P.L.C, pursuing SAFET S.P.A for defaulting on the contractual agreement the parties signed 8 years before.
Lubar industry was licensed to manufacture wire products in Ethiopia 8 years back. Based on the license, it issued an order to buy plant machineries from SAFET S.P.A and entered a contractual agreement accordingly. Later on, based on the documents furnished by SAFET, Lubar opened a Letter of Credit and received the products via customs.
However, up on delivery the products were found not to conform to the specifications agreed up on the contractual document. Hence, Lubar reported the case to the Addis Ababa Police and the arbitration institute of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations.
According to the evidence from the arbitration institution, the chamber of commerce in Torino has verified that SAFET has presented two different documents to the Ethiopia and Torino chambers.
The Torino chamber noted that the specifications on the document version sent to from Ethiopia is completely different and that SAFET S.P.A is not a producer company to begin with; all machineries with exception of one are made in Italy but were purchased from Corti Antonio & Figli Snc (Lecco).
Following police additional verification from arbitration institute the Addis Ababa managed to get an arrest warrant for the managing director, which it used to put the manager, Sergio Demi, under custody.
Nevertheless, the eight-year wait of the case came to a close only after Lubar entreated on the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) for help. After examining the case thoroughly, NBE has written a strong letter to all commercial banks in the Ethiopia to exercise caution in dealing with SAFET S.P.A.
The letter advises the banks to instruct their branches to be vigilant concerning SAFET S.P.A noting that it has been implicated in fraudulent business dealings in Ethiopia. The letter also warns the banks to protect other investors from getting duped by the same company.
The managing director remained under custody for one day and was interrogated by the police. However, he made bail after one day after the Italian Embassy provided a guaranty that he would not leave the country.
Solomon Abebe, the General Manager of Lubar, told The Reporter that his company had incurred a loss totaling USD 56,000 as a result of the whole affair and that the industry had not started production for eight years. The Torino-based company has previously supplied machineries to other private companies and governmental development agencies.
The case dates to almost 8 years with the plaintiff, Lubar Industry P.L.C, pursuing SAFET S.P.A for defaulting on the contractual agreement the parties signed 8 years before.
Lubar industry was licensed to manufacture wire products in Ethiopia 8 years back. Based on the license, it issued an order to buy plant machineries from SAFET S.P.A and entered a contractual agreement accordingly. Later on, based on the documents furnished by SAFET, Lubar opened a Letter of Credit and received the products via customs.
However, up on delivery the products were found not to conform to the specifications agreed up on the contractual document. Hence, Lubar reported the case to the Addis Ababa Police and the arbitration institute of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations.
According to the evidence from the arbitration institution, the chamber of commerce in Torino has verified that SAFET has presented two different documents to the Ethiopia and Torino chambers.
The Torino chamber noted that the specifications on the document version sent to from Ethiopia is completely different and that SAFET S.P.A is not a producer company to begin with; all machineries with exception of one are made in Italy but were purchased from Corti Antonio & Figli Snc (Lecco).
Following police additional verification from arbitration institute the Addis Ababa managed to get an arrest warrant for the managing director, which it used to put the manager, Sergio Demi, under custody.
Nevertheless, the eight-year wait of the case came to a close only after Lubar entreated on the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) for help. After examining the case thoroughly, NBE has written a strong letter to all commercial banks in the Ethiopia to exercise caution in dealing with SAFET S.P.A.
The letter advises the banks to instruct their branches to be vigilant concerning SAFET S.P.A noting that it has been implicated in fraudulent business dealings in Ethiopia. The letter also warns the banks to protect other investors from getting duped by the same company.
The managing director remained under custody for one day and was interrogated by the police. However, he made bail after one day after the Italian Embassy provided a guaranty that he would not leave the country.
Solomon Abebe, the General Manager of Lubar, told The Reporter that his company had incurred a loss totaling USD 56,000 as a result of the whole affair and that the industry had not started production for eight years. The Torino-based company has previously supplied machineries to other private companies and governmental development agencies.
No comments:
Post a Comment