deal
Dolphin Group head Ketan Somai has denied accusations of fraud made by Nairobi, writes Justin Arenstein
THE man behind the mysterious deal to give the Dolphin Group control over prime Mpumulanga nature reserves for 50 years is at the centre of a huge financial controversy in Kenya involving more than R30-million.
Ketan Somaia, chief executive and president of Dolphin, is alleged to be tied to two London-based companies which failed to deliver on a Kenyan government arms contract and owe 4-million.
A report before the Kenyan Parliament from its public accounts committee has ruled that no company associated with Somaia may get any government tender. It is alleged that the committee and the Kenyan attorney general are pursuing him.
Dolphin’s deal with the Mpumalanga Parks Board gives it exclusive rights to exploit famous sights such as the Blyde River Canyon. It also binds the Parks Board to setting up, staffing and supporting a commercial office for Dolphin for at least a year with public funds. In exchange, Dolphin will bankroll the board’s budget deficit over the 50-year period.
Somaia’s Johannesburg lawyers fervently denied the allegations on Thursday and threatened to interdict this newspaper if it published them. However, reports in Kenyan papers allege that Somaia now avoids returning to Kenya and has based himself in Dubai.
And a member of the Kenyan parliamentary committee on public accounts told the Mail & Guardian that they had tried three times to have Somaia appear before them to answer the allegations and were still trying, as was the country’s attorney general.
South Africa’s High Commission in Nairobi confirmed this week Somaia had been the subject of considerable media attention over the past two years, after allegedly misappropriating funds.
“It seems that Somaia has good political connections with the ruling party here and so despite being sought by the public accounts committee, the government has not yet organised his extradition or anything similiar,” explained High Commission spokesperson Gerald Ockotch. “The opposition party, however, chairs the public accounts committee and is pursuing the matter via the press.”
Dolphin’s South African representative, Mike Sharpes, dismissed the allegations, saying that the public accounts committee had cleared Somaia in December after discovering that he was not linked to the company which had defaulted.
And lawyer Janet MacKenzie of Cliffe Dekker & Todd, acting for Dolphin and Somaia, threatened to interdict the M&G if it published these allegations.
She provided a copy of a letter from the chairman of the public accounts committee, M Wamalwa, saying that Somaia “is not required to appear before the committee”. The letter was dated December 3.
“We have been instructed by our clients that a company totally unconnected to our clients had defaulted on the tender. Despite this fact, Mr Somaia was requested to appear before the committee. Documentary proof was then submitted to the committee which demonstrated that neither Dolphin nor Mr Somaia were connected to the company in question. Upon receipt of this documentation, a letter was addressed by the chairman of the committee to Mr Somaia advising him that he would not be required to appear before the committee.”
Wamalwa, the author of the letter, was out of Nairobi and could not be contacted.
The M&G spoke to opposition parliamentarian Joseph Martin Sikuku, who sits on the committee, and he rejected any suggestion that Somaia had been cleared. “To say we aren’t looking for Somaia is not true,” he said. “He has still to come and testify before us and anything else is a lie.” Committee minutes made it clear that he was still under suspicion.
Meanwhile, conservationists in Mpumalanga have threatened to refer the controversial deal to the Public Protector. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) executive director Jon Hanks is among a group of conservationists who say they will approach Public Protector Selby Baqwa unless the Mpumalanga Parks Board addresses their concerns.
Conservationists have expressed outrage at the secrecy and lack of consultation surrounding the deal. They confronted parks board chief Alan Gray at a special joint meeting between the board and the province’s environmental council this week.
The WWF’s Hanks said in a letter to the parks board chairman Patrick Maduna that the board had never given Gray a mandate to sign the contract which he described as “the most important agreement in the history of conservation in Mpumalanga”.
The deal’s other clauses bind the board to doing everything in its power to “maximise” financial returns for Dolphin while “using its best endeavours” to obtain all necessary permits, licences and approvals for Dolphin to make a profit in Mpumalanga.
Despite the presence of clauses aimed at preventing environmental damage, conservationists argue the parks board will be lenient with plans as Dolphin will be bankrolling it.
In an apparent break from normal management practices, the board also promises to consult Dolphin on any impending internal policy changes which could hit Dolphin’s profits.
Legal experts are concerned the deal may be creating a tourism monopoly in the region. They note Dolphin has an unusual “back door” for quitting the deal in the form of a clause which allows it to get out if there is a drop in tourist numbers, civil unrest or policitical instability.
Gray has consistently refused to comment on the contract but did appoint a Johannesburg public relations firm after the M&G first reported on the deal. The public relations firm Gillian Gamsy International also handled media relations for Dolphin, and for plans to develop Zoo Lake under the guise of black empowerment, which were scuppered in 1995.