/ 18 April 1997

Asian tabloid has fishy link

Despite denials of involvement in The Asian, allegations of Dolphin Group financing persist, reports Justin Arenstein

DAYS before the launch of The Asian, a tabloid aimed at Indian readers in Durban and other major cities, come allegations that the controversial Dolphin Group may be financially backing the new publication.

Meanwhile, the Dolphin Group has announced it will launch two of its own Indian publications in KwaZulu-Natal first before spreading nationally.

The Dolphin Group, a Dubai-based company hit the headlines six months ago when the Mail & Guardian exposed their multi-million-rand plans to gain exclusive commercial control of various Mpumalanga game reserves for 50 years.

Public outcry led to the renegotiation of the contract down to 25 years, but questions still remain concerning the deal. Now, allegations have surfaced that the deals and planned entry of all three ethnocentric publications may be financially linked and controversy is dogging the Asian newspapers.

However, senior officials from both groups have denied any links and dismissed allegations of cross funding, albeit to say that some “individuals” from the respective companies “socialised”.

Recently, the mystery man behind the proposed The Asian tabloid in Durban, Rahj Ramrachisingh, conceded that he is a “very, very close friend” of Dolphin president, Ketan Somaia. But one staffer told the M&G that links with the Dolphin Group ran deeper and included business.

“If he [the staffer] told you that we were connected to Dolphin, then he was mistaken … There is no financial relationship between us on this project,” said Ramrachisingh.

After admitting to knowing Somaia “closely”, Ramrachisingh repeatedly refused to be named although he said he was the only person authorised to speak to the press about The Asian.

Ramrachisingh also refused to say whether he was Somaia’s business partner in any other ventures or why both his and Somaia’s media plans in KwaZulu-Natal were so similar.

Somaia told the M&G a few weeks ago that Dolphin intended launching a local edition of its Indian focus daily newspaper, Asian Age, in South Africa within two months.

Explaining that Asian Age already had international daily sales of 340 000 copies in Britain, the Middle East and India, Somaia said that the South African edition would at first only be a weekly and would be distributed nationwide after being printed in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Both Somaia and Ramrachisingh described their respective publications as “hard- hitting, hard news”.

Like Dolphin, The Asian will also print in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town on a weekly basis at first, but would move towards becoming a daily as the market allowed.

Both Dolphin and Ramrachisingh also plan to launch niche magazines for the Indian market within six months of launching their newspapers.

Dolphin’s magazine is intended to be a South African version of their Cineblitz Indian movie magazine, described by Somaia as an “incredibly popular glossy”, concentrating on India’s massive movie industry and the hundreds of stars and films it produces every year.

Cineblitz, he said, has monthly sales of roughly 300 000 copies in India.

The South African edition would include looks at local independent films, and Somaia didn’t dismiss the possibility of bringing Indian movies to South Africa via Dolphin’s movie distribution subsidiaries.

Although the launch and distribution strategies for Ramrachisingh’s magazine are strikingly similar to Cineblitz’s, its target market and name, Asian Business, are completely different.

‘Look, we’re just very good friends and we don’t know each other’s business plans. If there is any similarity, then it is just a coincidence and that’s all,” Ramrachisingh insisted.

Somaia was unavailable for comment this week and Dolphin officials in South Africa said they had not yet been briefed on any publishing ventures, as these projects were run directly from Dubai.

Ramrachisingh, a Mauritius-based import/export businessman, repeatedly stressed that The Asian was being launched with “clean” South African money and management, but refused to say how much had been committed to the venture or who the investors were. Dolphin, coincidentally, has significant interests in Mauritius, including a banking group.

“This had better not be a controversial story or you will be in trouble. I don’t want any controversial stories and don’t want to see my name there,” Ramrachisingh told the M&G.