Emmanuel Katto, a fraudulent Ugandan Arms Dealer signs a multi-million dollar IPP project with Ghana Government using the name Transdanubia Power Ltd.
The Ghana Government together with other un-suspecting state governments in Nigeria have been negotiating and finalising IPP Projects with a well known international fraudster pictured above, Emmanuel Katto.
Katto’s latest scam is now Power Projects using a company called Transdanubia Power Ltd. Any child who cares to do the most basic due diligence checks, will discover the following, Katto has defrauded the Kenyan & Ugandan Governments in the recent past by supplying “junk helicopters” and taking monies without rendering any or proper goods or services he contracted to do.
Katto signed contracts, purporting not to take monies up-front, instead took promissory notes, encashed them without supplying any goods or services & on the occassion he did supply, he supplied “junk helicopters that were not air-worthy and could not fly” at crazy inflated prices defrauding millions of US Dollars from Kenya and Uganda.
Several international investigations revealed he had collaborated with some officials to dupe his own country and neighbouring Kenya using the same scam.
Ghanaians and Nigerians should be very careful of this man who obviously has no morals or scruples and who strangely enough is now penetrating Nigerian State governments with the help of some prominent Nigerian Businessmen having first done so in Ghana with the help of an introduction by Lord David Steel to President Kufuor last year in April 2007.
The following factual articles are available for all to see on Google, if you simply put in his name, Emmanuel Katto :
1) The Arms Fixers.
2) Military Copters Condemned by S.African Firm.
3) Sebutinde takes tough look to Sierra Leone.
This is an extract from the article,”Military Copters Condemned by S.African Firm.
Regional News
August 3 - 9 , 1998
Military Copters Condemned by S. African Firm
By LEVI OCHIENG SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SA Experts Expose Helicopter Scandal
AN INDEPENDENT report by a South African firm appointed by the Uganda government to investigate allegations of fraud in the purchase of four second hand combat helicopters has revealed that they were not airworthy and that the sale agreement was seriously breached.
Sources told The EastAfrican last week that Uganda's Ministry of Justice was planning to take legal action against the supplier, Consolidated Sales Corporation (CSC). The company, registered in the British Virgin Islands, is reportedly owned by Ugandan rally ace Emmanuel Katto.
However, the sources said, legal proceedings could be avoided if CSC supplied another four genuine helicopters the Uganda Peoples Defence Forces, who urgently need them. The sources said the helicopters supplied could not be used.
Officials, including the Permanent Secretary for Defence, Dr Ben Mbonye, confirmed that Haines Helicopters of South Africa had already submitted their findings to the Ministry of Justice to study and take action.
Although Dr Mbonye declined to discuss the contents of the report, sources said it dealt with the mechanical condition of the four MI 24 helicopters which the Uganda government purchased at $12,266,500 in April last year from the Republic of Belarus.
Only two of the combat aircraft were delivered to Uganda but are grounded at the Air Force base at Entebbe International Airport. The whereabouts of the others is not clear.
Attorney-General Bart Katureebe also confirmed last Friday that he had received the assessors' report and raised legal queries with the suppliers for allegedly breaching the sale agreement.
He said he received the report on July 24 from the Ministry of Defence and representatives of Consolidated Sales Corporation (CSC) in Uganda, Mr Katto, and their lawyer, Mr Samuel Bitangaro.
The two, the Attorney-General said, had agreed with the government that the South African assessors be appointed to establish whether the helicopters were overhauled as per the sales agreement.
Said Mr Katureebe: "I have raised the matter with the suppliers. We shall take action depending on their reply. I do not want to prejudice what legal action we shall take but the long and short of it is that the conditions of the contract were not fulfilled. The government wanted fully overhauled helicopters."
The assessors' report, he said, raised a number of serious legal is sues which the government intended to follow up depending on the suppliers' reply.
"This was a total breach of the contract," Mr Katureebe said.
The Government has also conceded that the $12,266,500 paid for the four helicopters was inflated. Each cost about $1.5 million.
State House gave the breakdown of the cost as spare parts, $900,000, specialised tools and equipment, $294,250, training $600,000 and freight, $300,000.
Other costs are de-commissioning, $308,000, weaponry and armaments, $3,088,800, freight for consumables, $600,000 and grand maintenance vehicles, $130,000 and miscellaneous expenses.
Fifty per cent was to be paid up front. The Ugandan government paid by promissory notes which by April 1997, had been encashed, according to State House.
On July 13, President Yoweri Museveni's Senior Presidential Adviser on Media and Public Relations, Mr John Nagenda, issued a statement on his behalfsaying CSC was introduced to the Uganda People's Defence Forces by an impeccable contact he did not name. Dr Mbonye also declined to name the person.
The State House statement, however, indicated that CSC approached the military with the offer to supply the four helicopters, promising to provide full specifications and documentation after fully overhauling them.
Said the statement: "Standard manuals refer to full overhaul to mean 1,000 flying hours for the airframe and 800 for engines or eight years...but even the minimum 100 hours of flying had elapsed by the time the helicopters arrived in March 1998."
It was later established that CSC, which is registered in the Virgin Islands, is owned by Mr Katto.
Negotiations with UPDF were carried out by Mr Chris Smith, who re ferred to himself as the director of CSC but is known to the Ugandan High Commission in London as a public relations consultant, while Mr Katto was said to be CSC's Uganda representative.
The President's Office confirmed recently the deal was negotiated in November 1996, under the chairmanship of former Minister of State for Defence Amama Mbabazi.
In December, the same year, a team under Colonel Masaba was sent to Minsk, Belarus, to inspect the helicopters. They returned with an assurance that that the helicopters would be fully overhauled before being delivered to Uganda.
Uganda opted for the second hand combat helicopters because, according to State House, "new ones cost around $8 million each", which the government could not afford and yet the UPDF urgently needed to boost its air strike capability.
It was, however, later established that CSC bought the helicopters from Triton Sal, who had in turn also purchased them from Belspetssvneshtnica of Minsk in Belarus. This caused the price of the obsolete helicopters to be highly inflated.
The President's Office admitted that with each seller earning a commis sion, the cost increased, prompting media speculation that a top UPDF officer "ate" in the deal.
The Defence Ministry overseer, Major-General Salim Saleh, was early this month quoted in the State-owned The New Vision, as saying he was not party to the CSC helicopters deal. He also denied allegations that he was one of the proprietors of that company.
State House says that following the agreement signed between UPDF and CSC on February 7, 1997, the cost was negotiated down from $12.9 million to $12,266,500.
The suppliers said they were ready to release the aircraft in May 1997. When the UPDF team led by Colonel Kiiza Besigye went to inspect the helicopters they found that CSC had not overhauled them as had been agreed, and rejected them.
Months later, CSC again asked the Ugandan government to collect the aircraft. The UPDF officers were allowed only 90 minutes to carry out the inspection. TECAVIA of Minsk were also asked to assemble and test the two helicopters on arrival at Entebbe airport in March this year. But they reportedly declined to fly them beyond April because even the minimum 400 hours of flying had elapsed by that time.
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The Ghanaian Ministry of Energy was in middle of last year,2007, guaranteeing Katto $20m every 3months to supply 25MW of power through a contract signed & guaranteed by the Ministry of Energy.This amount was set to be increased as Katto was to increase his charges from 20cents/Kwhr to 24cents/Kwhr.
Katto is using the name Transdanubia Power Ltd a company registered in Isle of Man, which owns 100% a company called Trans Tema Power Ltd.They are in partnership with Wood Group of America.
Below is the result of a company search of the ownership of Trans Tema Power Ltd;
1. Name of Company: Trans Tema Power Limited.
2. Particulars of Shareholders:
Name: Trans Danubia Limited (Steve Akuoko signed the regulations on behalf of Trans Danubia Limited
Address of Shareholder: 12A The Village Walk Onchan Isle of Man IM3 4EB Number of Shares: 100
Consideration payable in cash: 1,000,000,000
3. Registration Number: CA-35,133
4. Date of Incorporation: June 15, 2007
5. Commencement Date: Monday June 18 2007
6. Particulars of Directors
Elkin Pianim
- Ghanaian
- House No 14 Volta Street, Airport Residential Area, Accra
- Investment Banker
Emmanuel Katto
- Ugandan
- H/No 12A Village Walk Onchan Isle of Mann IM3 $EB
- Business Executive
Joshua Omino
- Kenyan
- H/No. 48455 Woodvale Groe 00100 CPO Nairobi Kenya
- Business Executive
Steve Akuoko
- Ghanaiain
- H/No. 14 Volta Street Airport Residential Area, Accra
- Electrical Engineer
7. Particulars of Secretary
Margaret Eson-Benjamin
- House No BAC 33/11 Baatsonaa
- Corporate Finance Officer
8. Particular of Auditors
Deloitte and Touche
- No. 4 Liberation Road Accra
9. Registered office/Principal place of Business of Trans Tema Power Limited
- P. O. Box ct 2868, Cantonments, Heritage Tower, Amassadorial Enclave, Accra
10. Authorised Business/ Nature of Business
- To provide power generation services
- To provide maintenance and management systems for power authorities
- To offer software solutions for the power industry
- To offer software solutions for inventory management for the power industry
Ironically, this time last year, Katto did not even own a car or a house in the UK, living in debt and abject poverty due to dissipation of proceeds of his fraudulent lifestyle & recognition of his past antecedants by the international financial & business comminity, and yet now thanks to President Kufuor and the Ministry of Energy, he now has a big house in Surrey and is jet setting all over the world, perpetrating more fraudulent scams in his new line of business, Transdanubia Power Ltd.
The people of Ghana need to know full details of the contract & payments to this Ugandan international fraudster made so far by the Ghana Government & there should be an investigation of how he got the contract & an International Audit with very strict monitoring of future payments to prevent the inevitable, which Katto has done repeatedly, even in his own country, Uganda.
Further details on Katto’s new company can be found at www.transdanubiapower.com
Source: James Smith
