Feike Profiled in Maritime SA

Feike and some of the work we do in South Africa is featured in the July/August edition of Maritime Southern Africa (pages 56-57). The electronic version can be viewed on http://maritimesa.co.za/CurrentIssue/tabid/79/Default.aspx then simply click on the magazine and flip to page 56.

Feike on The Money Show with Bruce Whitfield

Feike's Shaheen Moolla will be chatting to Bruce Whitfield on The Money Show between 19:30 and 20h00 on Thursday 11 August 2011. We will be talking about the state of the SA fishing industry with particular emphasis on the larger commercial fisheries such as hake deep sea trawl and the small pelagic fisheries.

The facts about Fraud and Conning in the Fishing Industry

The Sunday Times of 31 July 2011 reported on the fraudster and con-artist, Yusuf Achmat. The article however seems to create an air of ambiguity regarding the role that Feike played in the matter. These are the facts:

1. Feike was approached by both Ixia Trading and Gansbaai Marine (via Marine Admin Consultants) to urgently source pilchard quota for them for the 2011 season.

2. Feike was advised that a person called Yusuf Achmat who represented 4 pilchard quota holding companies was prepared to sell the pilchards belonging to these entities for the 2011 season for a specified price on certain terms and conditions, which were communicated to Feike by Achmat in writing.

3. Feike communicated these terms to the both Ixia and Gansbaai whose respective managing directors confirmed their concurrence and that Feike must proceed with the drafting of the agreements. The agreements were subsequently drafted and presented to Achmat for signature. As the quota holders he represented are close corporations, the contracts drafted by Feike explicitly required Achmat to warrant that he was properly authorised to represent and bind the quota holders and sell the fish concerned. Achmat further warranted his authority to bind and represent the corporations when he signed each agreement. Feike was not requested to or required to conduct any due diligence on Achmat or any of the close corporations. Indeed, based on the urgency of the parties to conclude the contracts, any due diligence would have been impossible.

4. The applicable agreements were then counter-signed by Ixia and Gansbaai Marine's respective managing directors.

5. In terms of the agreements, Ixia and Gansbaai would pay "deposits" to Achmat on signature of the agreements. These deposits varied from 5% to 10% of the total purchase price. A portion of Feike's legal fees and commissions were payable on signature of the agreements. The deposits were paid by Feike to Achmat between 29 April & 3 May as required by Achmat.

6. During the subsequent 2 weeks, it became apparent that Achmat could not produce the requisite tax clearance certificates and other documents required to uplift the fishing permits for the four corporations. At this stage, Feike alerted both Gansbaai and Ixia to the fact that Achmat may not be able to produce the documents he was obliged to produce in terms of the contracts.

7. During informal correspondence with a director of another Cape Town based fishing company, the director mentioned how his company was recently conned by two separate persons - the one being a Yusuf Achmat. At this stage, Feike informed both Ixia and Gansbaai Marine of the possibility that Achmat was a con-man and a fraud who may have signed the sale agreements with any legal mandate or authority.

8. With the concurrence of both Ixia and Gansbaai, Feike appointed a firm of attorneys to urgently issue summons to recover the deposits paid to Achmat. Feike also appointed a debt collecting agency to attempt to recover the deposits. Further, Feike reported Achmat to SARS for violations of the Income Tax Act and VAT Act - as Achmat had issued fraudulent VAT invoices for the receipt of the deposits and would not have declared these deposits to SARS as income.

9. For reasons only known to Gansbaai Marine and Ixia Trading, they suddenly decided to not sue Achmat for the deposits he received and invoiced for. Feike remains committed to suing Achmat for the damage caused by his fraud, misrepresentation and deceit by signing agreements for which he had no legal mandate or authority.

The only reason fraudsters and con-artists like Achmat continue to operate in the fishing industry is because companies like Ixia Trading and Gansbaai Marine refuse to expose and sue these types of people. How often did a certain Mr W (now deceased) operate in a similar fashion, selling his quota 3 and four times over in the same season collecting illicit deposits on his quotas without anyone (other than the Grim Reeper) putting an end to the practice?

Another ANC official bust for abalone poaching

The Cape Times (26 July 2011) reports that one of the 19 people arrested as part of an abalone poaching syndicate is Samuel (Sammy) Brett, 42. Brett was an ANC candidate for ward councillor in the recent local government elections. A senior ANC source confirms that Brett stood as the ANC’s official candidate during the recent municipal elections for Ward 2 in the Gansbaai area. The source also says Brett’s name was on the list that was submitted to the IEC ahead of the elections.

Brett has a number of previous convictions relating to transgressions of the Marine Living Resources Act.

Brett is by no means the only senior local ANC caught poaching abalone. If we recall, in 2009 a local ANC leader was caught with 2 474 fresh abalone outside Hermanus, after a short chase in a vehicle covered with stickers of the ruling party and its leader, Jacob Zuma.

There is no news on whether this ANC leader was ever prosecuted or what happened to the 2474 freshly shucked abalone. Was this ANC leader ever expelled from the party? Will Mr Brett's membership of the ANC be terminated? It is noted that Mr Brett has prior criminal convictions.

WSCD APPEALS ANNOUNCED

The Minister of Environmental Affairs finally issued her decisions on the appeals in the white shark cage diving sector on 25 July 2011. It took the Minister some 12 months to decide a mere 16 appeals.

The permits issued are valid for five years, renewable annually in terms of section 13 of the Marine Living Resources Act.

Of Feike's 5 clients in the white shark cage diving and boat-based whale watching sectors, four have been successful (2 new entrants and 2 exemption holders).

The DAFF website is the answer to our questions!

There can be no doubt that an organisation's public profile today is defined by its various e-platforms. Whether the platform is the "traditional" website, an interactive blog, Facebook, Twitter... these tell the world what you are thinking and where you are at. Used cleverly, these platforms market the organisation's vision and instills confidence in it.

So the department of fisheries' website (it has no other e-platform to profile itself and speak to fishing industry) is a comical tragedy. Under "BREAKING NEWS", the latest news item is from October 2010! Has nothing remotely relevant happened in the fishing industry since October 2010?

And don't bother with trying to open any of the other pages as they are still all under "construction"! Remember the "new" department of fisheries came into being in June 2009 - that is, in the previous decade! It took less time to build entire soccer stadiums.

Under the "Management" link (which does exist), we are told that the acting DDG is Richard Seleke. Seleke is ancient history. There have been about 4 acting DDG's since him. We cant even remember who he is or when he "acted".

But the website does accurately reflect who and what DAFF is... out-dated, irrelevant and not remotely interested in or concerned with fisheries.

"Police-Run" Abalone Syndicate Members Arrested

The Cape Times this morning reports of a significant series of arrests of 19 people, including serving police officers alleged to be involved in the illegal harvesting and trade of wild abalone. It has been reported that the investigations into the syndicate's illegal activities spanned some three years and involved the Department of Fisheries (and its predecessor, MCM) and the South African Police Service.

The arrest of serving police officers will come as little surprise to fishers who have been alleging police and fishery compliance officer complicity in the illegal harvesting of abalone for some time, having cited numerous examples in public and to the department.

While we must recognise the important and invaluable work of the department of fisheries' compliance officers in the specialised unit for this important step forward, we must however caution against complacency. We read of literally dozens of arrests of poachers and syndicate members with little news of any successful prosecutions, substantial jail terms for syndicate leaders and the financial destruction of syndicates. It is - as previous cases have shown - the financial implosion of a syndicate that ultimately leads to a turning of the corner.

For one, we need the return of our specialised green courts, specialised prosecutors and magistrates who understand fisheries and environmental laws and the need to efficiently and effectively deal with each case without the burden of other "priority crimes" such as murder, rape and robbery. And then we need significantly more regular arrests, prosecutions and guilty findings of poaching syndicate members.

But these arrests are an important step forward and we must support DAFF in the successful prosecution of those implicated.