Mengi’s ARV firm placed under receivership

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Invisible

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Feb 11, 2006
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ARVs that the firm was set up to produce. Photo/FILE


InterChem Pharma Ltd, the Moshi-based pharmaceutical firm owned by media mogul Reginald Mengi’s younger brother Benjamin, has been placed under receivership over a large debt accrued from Barclays Bank Tanzania Ltd.

The firm, which three years ago acquired a $6 million loan for setting up an anti-retroviral (ARV) drug manufacturing plant in Tanzania, will go under the hammer next year.

Bank sources told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam last week that the firm acquired additional investment from Barclays under a debenture agreement and mortgaged its plant in Moshi to the bank.

Barclays Bank Tanzania has already appointed Charles Rwechungura and Dr Alex Nguluma to be receivers and managers of the firm, which faces a mountain of debt owed to various creditors.

According to Mr Rwechungura and Dr Nguluma, the firm’s assets and business are being offered for sale by competitive tender to recover the loan.

The two receiver managers were on December 27, 2008, expected to take possession of all properties owned by the firm under the bank’s instructions after the company failed to honour its debts.

The bank source said that InterChem Pharma Ltd also borrowed some $10 million from the bank and other sources for setting up a penicillin-products manufacturing facility within a maximum period of two years.

InterChem, which was founded in 1987, is a Tanzanian pharmaceutical manufacturing company and was owned jointly by Reginald Mengi and his brother Benjamin Mengi, who is the chairman of the firm.

The project envisaged expansion of the existing tablets and capsule line, establishing a new penicillin plant (liquids, dry powder, tablets, and capsules) as well as establishing a new line for the production of tabs and capsules for HIV.

Foreign collaboration was sought in the form of joint-venture partnership, buy-back arrangement and/or equipment purchase to facilitate implementation of the project.

The company was incorporated in 1983. It manufactures liquids, tablets, capsules, creams, ointments, dry powders, external preparations and veterinary medicines.

Source: The East Africn
 
Invisible said:
InterChem, which was founded in 1987, is a Tanzanian pharmaceutical manufacturing company and was owned jointly by Reginald Mengi and his brother Benjamin Mengi, who is the chairman of the firm.
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Maumivu ya kichwa huanza polepolee!!!!!!
 
Kandambilimbili said:
hata mimi ndio wasi wasi wangu mkubwa huo, mafisadi kweli ni mafisadi.
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Hawa jamaa wa East African si mwezi Machi mwaka huu waliandika hiki?
British duo flee Moshi after death threats

Posted Monday, March 3 2008
By STAFF WRITER

Two British investors have fled Moshi in northern Tanzania after receiving persistent death threats in the wake of an invasion of their multimillion shilling Silverdale Farm by a large herd of cattle that caused massive destruction to property.

Last week, the 500-acre farm was invaded and all workers evicted. Stewart Middleton and Sarah Hermitage — who have been locked in a protracted battle for control of the 550-acre farm with their local partner, Benjamin Mengi — said they had been feeling more and more vulnerable after a court in Moshi last month sent four of their senior managers to prison for six months.

Tanzania nationals Abel Ngoja, Marcel Kavise and Swaleh Rubaji had been arraigned before a Moshi magistrate to answer charges of assaulting a group of people who had invaded the farm last year.

Their predicament was ironical. Several months ago, they had arrested a group of intruders who had invaded the farm and taken them to the police. But in a strange twist, they are the ones who ended up being arrested and jailed.

In a telephone conversation with The EastAfrican from their temporary hideout at a location near Arusha town two weeks ago, Ms Hermitage described the invasion as vicious, saying that property worth millions of dollars had been destroyed — including 10 acres of French beans that were ripe and ready for export.

“We have lost the farm. In the end, the threats to our lives, the imprisonment of our staff… was placing everyone at risk. The farm is destroyed and has now been invaded by intruders. Our aim now is to secure the release of our men. We accept that we have lost everything,” said Ms Hermitage.

She added: “We are being sensible, but I have to say I am scared now. It is not safe to walk on the farm. There is nothing left of our operation. Everything has been stolen from the farm including the tin roofs from the field toilets... Incredibly, we were granted a right to see our men in prison. To see these fine Tanzanians walking in filth and mud and crouching before us like criminals was enough to break the strongest of spirits.”

What began as a dispute between partners has evolved into a major row that now threatens diplomatic relations between Tanzania and the United Kingdom.

Last week, a British MP, Roger Gale, laid a White Paper before the UK Parliament asking for the suspension of all aid to Tanzania until a solution to the matter is found.

“My constituents have lost their investment, lives have been placed in danger and, most important of all, innocent people have been imprisoned,” he said.

Mr Gale recounted how, between 2000 and 2004, the Silverdale farm in Moshi was owned by Benjamin Mengi, whose brother is the Tanzanian media magnate Reginald Mengi.

On May 20, 2004, the lease to the Silverdale and Mbono farms was assigned by Mengi’s company — Fiona (Tanzania) Ltd — to Silverdale Tanzania for a consideration of $112,000.

“The money was paid in agreed instalments and formally receipted,” Mr Middleton noted, adding that Mr Mengi retained a 30 per cent shareholding with the British nationals acquiring 70 per cent.

According to Mr Gale, signs of trouble began to show in January 2005 when Benjamin Mengi, having sold the lease once, sought to sell it for a second time to a neighbouring farmer, Konrad Legg.

In April 2005, Mr Mengi applied to the courts to have the investors, Stewart Middleton and Sarah Hermitage, evicted.

In June 2005, Mr Middleton opened police charges against Mr Mengi for forgery and conspiracy to murder. The Deputy Minister of Home Affairs was informed but the allegations were never investigated.

In August 2005, Mr Middleton and his Tanzanian manager were arrested on the streets of Moshi by armed police and taken before magistrates on complaints made by Mr Mengi. The charges, which do not exist under the penal code of Tanzania, were dropped, and Mr Middleton was released. No apology was ever offered by the Tanzanian government.

Representations were made to President Jakaya Kikwete in January 2007 by the then foreign secretary Margaret Beckett and Cherie Booth, QC, wife of former UK prime minister Tony Blair.

She raised the issue with Justice Minister Mary Nagu in February 2007.

Mr Gale told the House that in spite of the Herculean efforts of British High Commissioner Philip Parham, a three-year campaign of threats and harassment has been waged against the British nationals.

He alleged that Mr Mengi, backed by local police officials, has been allowed to drive lawful investors from Tanzania in fear for their lives and for the lives of the honest, decent and hard-working Tanzanians whose livelihoods they have fought to protect.

He argued that the case of the two British nationals was just one example of how Tanzania had mistreated British investors, citing the cases of Biwater, which was awarded a 10-year lease contract to manage the water and sewerage contract for the Dar es Salaam area.

“City Water’s assets were seized and on June 1 three Biwater executives of City Water were summarily deported by the government of Tanzania,” said the MP.

Responding on the government’s behalf, Meg Munn, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the government shared the concerns of the MP about the events that have unfolded there during the past three years or so.

She said that Stewart Middleton and Sarah Hermitage invested in the farm in good faith, and they have suffered serious harassment in various ways.

She added that since their initial investment in 2004, they and their staff have been forced to defend themselves from many criminal and civil lawsuits.

“Mr Middleton has been arrested, as have the couple’s staff. Several lawsuits remain outstanding, and have been for long periods,” she added.

Ms Munn noted that the British High Commission, particularly successive High Commissioners Dr Andrew Pocock and Philip Parham, have been and remain actively engaged with the case.

“They have provided a lot of support to Mr Middleton and Ms Hermitage, and have intervened many times and lobbied the Tanzanian Government on the couple’s behalf,” Ms Munn added, pointing out that the engagement has helped to bring the situation back from the brink on several occasions.

She disclosed that British ministers have also pursued the case at the highest levels, most recently when Lord Mark Malloch-Brown raised it with President Kikwete earlier this month during the African Union summit.

As a result of those interventions, she added, there were signs of potentially helpful movement from senior members of the Tanzanian Government.

“The Chief Justice is actively engaged, and has offered to mediate between the two parties in the hope of bringing the case to a just conclusion,” she added.

Turning to the Silverdale farm case, the British minister said the controversy was an example of why it is difficult to invest in Tanzania.

“It demonstrates the constraints on both the capacity and the integrity of the legal sector, which the Tanzanian authorities recognise and are trying to rectify,” she noted pointing out that the British government will continue to be engaged on the case with the aim of bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion.
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Na hata mwaka jana tarehe 10 Disemba waliandika hiki:

MP wants UK to withhold Tanzania budget support

Posted Monday, December 10 2007
By WILFRED EDWIN

Tanzania is heading for a diplomatic tiff with the United Kingdom if a motion to block budget support to Tanzania passes through the British parliament.

House of Commons Conservative MP Roger Gale wants the UK government to withhold part of its promised £105 million ($212 million) support to the 2007/2008 Tanzania national budget.

The motion has been triggered by what the lawmaker describes as unfair treatment of two British investors in Silverdale Farm in Tanzania.

The issue involves a dispute over the lease to Silverdale and Mbono Farms pitting the two British investors, Stewart Middleton and Sarah Hermitage, who have set up a business in the northern town of Moshi, against a local businessman, hotelier Benjamin Mengi (brother of IPP media mogul Reginald Mengi), who assigned them the lease in 2004.

The lease has yet to be registered, and Mr Middleton has been arrested several times. The investors were also sued for libel on the basis of the newspaper article and judgement given to Mengi for $100,000 for defamation. The whole saga has become cause celebre in the international media.

Another issue raised by Mr Gale is the Tanzania government’s inability to curb corruption, even though Britain has been touting the country as a shining example of African development.

Mr Gale, MP for North Thanet, told The EastAfrican on Wednesday last week in a telephone interview from London that he was concerned that his government has failed to take Tanzania to task over the issue of mistreatment of British investors.

Mr Gale added that the failure of the Tanzanian government to resolve such issues erodes investor confidence.

“I’m seriously concerned with my government’s continuing support for Tanzania,” he said, adding that he has on three occasions contacted the Tanzanian High Commissioner to Britain, Phillip Parham, to discuss the issue.

The MP said he had received a letter from Mark Malloch-Brown, the State Minister at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office responsible for Africa, Asia and the UN, on the subject but did not disclose the contents of the letter.

Mr Gale, who is Ms Hermitage’s MP, has been calling for the British government to act on the case since 2006.

However, it appears that the Tanzanian government is content to let the judicial system take its course.

Patrick Mombo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam last week that Tanzania believes in good governance, and as such, would like to see the judiciary make decisions free from any interference.

Mr Mombo said that the Tanzanian legal system was capable of handling the issue.

Meanwhile, reliable sources in Westminster hinted that Mr Gale’s motion has not been internally discussed yet, and that there are currently no plans to cut back the Tanzanian aid package.

John Bradshaw, political and press officer at the British High Commission in Dar es Salaam, told The EastAfrican that although there is pressure from politicians to withhold part of the development funds for Tanzania, the government has not made any decision in that direction.

But Mr Bradshaw cautioned that, as is the case with all UK development assistance, his government regularly reviews the aid programme to Tanzania and takes account of all aspects of the country’s performance and prospects for reducing poverty.

“The experiences of investors, including cases such as this, are considered as part of those reviews. But the most important consideration is whether we believe our assistance will effectively reduce poverty,” he said.

According to Mr Bradshaw, the British High Commission in Tanzania has been in frequent contact with the British investors and continues to liaise with the Tanzanian government at the highest levels over the problems experienced by the two in developing their investment.

The High Commission hopes the Tanzanian authorities will ensure that these problems and all related matters are expeditiously and fairly resolved, Mr Bradshaw noted.

An estimated 6,000 UK nationals live and work in Tanzania.

For a long time now, Britain has been one of Tanzania’s leading trading partners and one of the largest foreign direct investors in the country.

UK companies have invested about £230 million ($322 million) in Tanzania over the past 11 years, mainly in the agricultural and tourist sectors.

The leading UK investors are CDC, BP, Standard Chartered, Barclays, Unilever and Mott MacDonald. UK exports to Tanzania were worth £71 million ($99.4 million) in 2005. Tanzanian exports to the UK were worth over £36 million ($50.4 million) in the same period.
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Hebu zipitie habari zote mbili
 
KUNGUNI said:
Au ndiyo utekelezaji wa Mpango kabambe wa Waziri kijana ........
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Kunguni,

Mbona tunakuwa wavivu wa kufikiri?kwa suala dogo kama hili tunaingiza siasa ili iweje?kwa mtu aliyekopa benki kama Baclays ambayo siyo mali ya serikali.Je unahisi ni vyema kuhusisha suala hili na suala la kufilisiwa kwa mengi(Unavyohisi?)

Hata kama tuna mapenzi ya kweli kwa Mfanyabiashara Mzawa kama Mengi ,tusiwe wajinga kiasi cha kuona hata kama kakosa basi iwe sawa.Hapa naona tunapoelekea ni kupotea na kumezwa kwa mawazo ya mtu mmoja!

Tulishalizungumza hili muda Mrefu,Huyu Mzee wa kichaga mambo yake si shwari hivyo sasa anatafuta sympath kwa watanzania ili apewe ridhaa flani kwa malengo flani.

Time will tell
 
kunapotokea na disputes....Mahakama zipo!!! tuzianze mambo mambo...? ktk Hali ya sasa Bank kufilisika kila bank sasa inafuatilia wadaiwa wake...so tusishangae wala kutupia mpira kwa wasio husika...!!! Watu wanaofilisi Mabenk kazi yao kufilisiwa...Wanachukua pesa for project ABC, then wanakwenda zihamisha kwa matumizi yao binafsi!!!! au Kampuni ingine...
 
Chuma said:
kunapotokea na disputes....Mahakama zipo!!! tuzianze mambo mambo...? ktk Hali ya sasa Bank kufilisika kila bank sasa inafuatilia wadaiwa wake...so tusishangae wala kutupia mpira kwa wasio husika...!!! Watu wanaofilisi Mabenk kazi yao kufilisiwa...Wanachukua pesa for project ABC, then wanakwenda zihamisha kwa matumizi yao binafsi!!!! au Kampuni ingine...
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After all,Mengi alichangia sana kufilisika kwa Benki yetu iliyokuwa ya biashara NBC ambapo mpaka leo wanamdai...
 
Gembe said:
After all,Mengi alichangia sana kufilisika kwa Benki yetu iliyokuwa ya biashara NBC ambapo mpaka leo wanamdai...
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Gembe said:
Kunguni,

Mbona tunakuwa wavivu wa kufikiri?kwa suala dogo kama hili tunaingiza siasa ili iweje?kwa mtu aliyekopa benki kama Baclays ambayo siyo mali ya serikali.Je unahisi ni vyema kuhusisha suala hili na suala la kufilisiwa kwa mengi(Unavyohisi?)

Hata kama tuna mapenzi ya kweli kwa Mfanyabiashara Mzawa kama Mengi ,tusiwe wajinga kiasi cha kuona hata kama kakosa basi iwe sawa.Hapa naona tunapoelekea ni kupotea na kumezwa kwa mawazo ya mtu mmoja!

Tulishalizungumza hili muda Mrefu,Huyu Mzee wa kichaga mambo yake si shwari hivyo sasa anatafuta sympath kwa watanzania ili apewe ridhaa flani kwa malengo flani.

Time will tell
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teheee niliichokoza makusudi, huyu mangi anaonekana Mungu mtu humu ndani.

__________________
 
Du Wakuu haka ka kiwanda kina Mengi walishakauza zamani sana kwa wahindi wa Mac Group ambao nao waliwauzia Niko, ngoma imekula kwa wamiliki wa sasa.
 
Upo uwezekano mkubwa wa masuala haya yanayoonekana kuwa ni ya kibiashara, yakawa yameshughulikiwa pia kisiasa. Kama ndivyo, ingekuwa vema wale wanaoyahusisha na siasa, wakaonyesha kiungo chake wazi wazi ili wasituache sisi wengine ambao pamoja na kusoma katikati ya mistari, hatujabaini muunganiko huo.
 
Wajameni;
Tuache kukurupuka... Ya intechem Ni zaidi ya ujuavyo. Hivi lini tutaacha ujinga wa kuunganisha tenzi zisizoendana??????????????????????????

Intecherm ni kampuni iliyoanzishwa na hawa jamaa, na baadae ikapata partners (from India) na kuna hata wahadhiri wa chuo kikuu MUCHS waliipigia debe sana, ambao waliweka chao kidogo (machines). Baada ya hapo kuna mengi yanayohusu production, inestiment na output ambayo wote hapa hamna taarifa kamili.

Yaliyotekea ni pure business challenges na myaache hivyo kama ni wavivu wa kufikiri SIO SIASA WALA UADUI WA MTU FULANI, BIASHARA IMEWAHINDA HAWAAA

IJUMAA NTAWAPA ZAIDI
 
Mengi’s ARV firm placed under receivership


Posted Saturday, December 27 2008 at 09:14

InterChem Pharma Ltd, the Moshi-based pharmaceutical firm owned by media mogul Reginald Mengi’s younger brother Benjamin, has been placed under receivership over a large debt accrued from Barclays Bank Tanzania Ltd.

The firm, which three years ago acquired a $6 million loan for setting up an anti-retroviral (ARV) drug manufacturing plant in Tanzania, will go under the hammer next year.

Bank sources told The EastAfrican in Dar es Salaam last week that the firm acquired additional investment from Barclays under a debenture agreement and mortgaged its plant in Moshi to the bank.

Barclays Bank Tanzania has already appointed Charles Rwechungura and Dr Alex Nguluma to be receivers and managers of the firm, which faces a mountain of debt owed to various creditors.

According to Mr Rwechungura and Dr Nguluma, the firm’s assets and business are being offered for sale by competitive tender to recover the loan.

The two receiver managers were on December 27, 2008, expected to take possession of all properties owned by the firm under the bank’s instructions after the company failed to honour its debts.

The bank source said that InterChem Pharma Ltd also borrowed some $10 million from the bank and other sources for setting up a penicillin-products manufacturing facility within a maximum period of two years.

InterChem, which was founded in 1987, is a Tanzanian pharmaceutical manufacturing company and was owned jointly by Reginald Mengi and his brother Benjamin Mengi, who is the chairman of the firm.

The project envisaged expansion of the existing tablets and capsule line, establishing a new penicillin plant (liquids, dry powder, tablets, and capsules) as well as establishing a new line for the production of tabs and capsules for HIV.

Foreign collaboration was sought in the form of joint-venture partnership, buy-back arrangement and/or equipment purchase to facilitate implementation of the project.

The company was incorporated in 1983. It manufactures liquids, tablets, capsules, creams, ointments, dry powders, external preparations and veterinary medicines.
InterChem Pharma Placed Under Receivership
Submitted by editor on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 10:34
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InterChem Pharma Ltd, the Moshi-based pharmaceutical firm owned by media mogul Benjamin Mengi, has been placed under receivership over a large debt accrued from Barclays Bank Tanzania Ltd., The East African reported. The firm, which three years ago acquired a $6 million loan for setting up an anti-retroviral (ARV) drug manufacturing plant in Tanzania, will go under the hammer next year. Bank sources told The East African in Dar es Salaam last week that the firm acquired additional investment from Barclays under a debenture agreement and mortgaged its plant in Moshi to the bank. According to receivers appointed by Barclays Bank Tanzania, the firm’s assets and business are being offered for sale by competitive tender to recover the loan. The company was incorporated in 1983. It manufactures liquids, tablets, capsules, creams, ointments, dry powders, external preparations and veterinary medicines
 
Mkuu,
Tunaomba source ya hii habari pse pse.
Kwa sasa source za habari ni muhimu sana.
 
Gembe said:
Kunguni,

Mbona tunakuwa wavivu wa kufikiri?kwa suala dogo kama hili tunaingiza siasa ili iweje?kwa mtu aliyekopa benki kama Baclays ambayo siyo mali ya serikali.Je unahisi ni vyema kuhusisha suala hili na suala la kufilisiwa kwa mengi(Unavyohisi?)

Hata kama tuna mapenzi ya kweli kwa Mfanyabiashara Mzawa kama Mengi ,tusiwe wajinga kiasi cha kuona hata kama kakosa basi iwe sawa.Hapa naona tunapoelekea ni kupotea na kumezwa kwa mawazo ya mtu mmoja!

Tulishalizungumza hili muda Mrefu,Huyu Mzee wa kichaga mambo yake si shwari hivyo sasa anatafuta sympath kwa watanzania ili apewe ridhaa flani kwa malengo flani.

Time will tell
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Kama ulikuwepo. tuendelee kusubiri.
 
Jamani, mambo ya biashara tuyaache kwenye biashara na ya siasa tuyaachie huko. Sidhani kama ni vizuri kuchanganya mambo haya mawili.

Tatizo hapa ni kuingiza ya siasa kwenye biashara and vice versa.
 
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