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US to help find multimillion fertiliser money
(Oh say - does Mo know
)
Published: Friday | February 6, 2009
Mark Titus, Business Reporter
Karl James, head of Jamaica Cane Product Sales. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Lawyers representing Jamaica Cane Products Sales (JCPS) have turned to the American Citizens Services (ACS) unit of the US State Department, in a bid to recover US$1.15 million, or about J$87 million paid in March last year to Indian firm, Shreeji Impex Corporation, for cheap fertiliser that has still not been delivered.
The ACS unit, based in American embassies around the world, provides a range of services mainly to US citizens overseas, but also to other clients, consistent with US laws and regulations. The unit in the US' Mumbai embassy has been tapped to locate the Indian company that has gone missing.
Explaining that the deal was brokered with a New York-based Jamaican company, the name of which have not been disclosed, Karl James, the JCPS general manager notes that: "Our contract is with the Jamaican company and it is our view that they must be held accountable, but we are not restricting our activities to recover only to that."
He added that lawyers for the Jamaican entity in New York are cooperating in the international hunt for the missing cash, even as Minister of Agriculture, Dr Christopher Tufton told the Financial Gleaner he has no authority to make a determination on the matter, and the board of JCPS is said to be still probing the case.
Marketing company
JCPS is a marketing company that handles the country's sugar sales on the international market, on behalf of the Jamaican government.
James came under fire last year after The Gleaner broke the story of the deal made in March 2008, when the still unnamed head of the US-based Jamaican company, is said to have visited the Ministry of Agriculture, claiming to be able to source and supply fertiliser at a lower cost than the sole private local importer, Newport-Fersan Limited.
An order for 6,000 tons was made, followed by a deposit of US$1.4 million sent to the agent in New York, which took US$250,000 as commission and said it paid the remainder, US$1.15 million, now worth in excess of J$98 million, to Shreeji Impex. The shipment, which should have arrived in Jamaica between April and May last year, never came and neither the JCPS, nor their US-based middleman, has been able to contact the Indian supplier.
Commission returned
The JCPS has since sought to recover its deposit, but only the commission was returned. The sugar marketing company solicited the assistance of the Indian High Commission in Jamaica after it failed to recover the money the agent claimed was sent to the Indian company.
With the Indian supplier still not located, the JCPS head is expressing optimism that the state-owned sugar marketing company has not been bilked out of the fertiliser money. "I am hopeful that this money will be returned," James said, adding that: "Our lawyers are in constant dialogue with their (the agent's) representatives to determine the way forward."
mark.titus@gleanerjm.com
(Oh say - does Mo know
)Published: Friday | February 6, 2009
Mark Titus, Business Reporter
Karl James, head of Jamaica Cane Product Sales. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Lawyers representing Jamaica Cane Products Sales (JCPS) have turned to the American Citizens Services (ACS) unit of the US State Department, in a bid to recover US$1.15 million, or about J$87 million paid in March last year to Indian firm, Shreeji Impex Corporation, for cheap fertiliser that has still not been delivered.
The ACS unit, based in American embassies around the world, provides a range of services mainly to US citizens overseas, but also to other clients, consistent with US laws and regulations. The unit in the US' Mumbai embassy has been tapped to locate the Indian company that has gone missing.
Explaining that the deal was brokered with a New York-based Jamaican company, the name of which have not been disclosed, Karl James, the JCPS general manager notes that: "Our contract is with the Jamaican company and it is our view that they must be held accountable, but we are not restricting our activities to recover only to that."
He added that lawyers for the Jamaican entity in New York are cooperating in the international hunt for the missing cash, even as Minister of Agriculture, Dr Christopher Tufton told the Financial Gleaner he has no authority to make a determination on the matter, and the board of JCPS is said to be still probing the case.
Marketing company
JCPS is a marketing company that handles the country's sugar sales on the international market, on behalf of the Jamaican government.
James came under fire last year after The Gleaner broke the story of the deal made in March 2008, when the still unnamed head of the US-based Jamaican company, is said to have visited the Ministry of Agriculture, claiming to be able to source and supply fertiliser at a lower cost than the sole private local importer, Newport-Fersan Limited.
An order for 6,000 tons was made, followed by a deposit of US$1.4 million sent to the agent in New York, which took US$250,000 as commission and said it paid the remainder, US$1.15 million, now worth in excess of J$98 million, to Shreeji Impex. The shipment, which should have arrived in Jamaica between April and May last year, never came and neither the JCPS, nor their US-based middleman, has been able to contact the Indian supplier.
Commission returned
The JCPS has since sought to recover its deposit, but only the commission was returned. The sugar marketing company solicited the assistance of the Indian High Commission in Jamaica after it failed to recover the money the agent claimed was sent to the Indian company.
With the Indian supplier still not located, the JCPS head is expressing optimism that the state-owned sugar marketing company has not been bilked out of the fertiliser money. "I am hopeful that this money will be returned," James said, adding that: "Our lawyers are in constant dialogue with their (the agent's) representatives to determine the way forward."
mark.titus@gleanerjm.com
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