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Asian Voice - Saturday 14th November 2009
Africa Focus Nigerian court nullifies expulsion of India-born British businessmen Abuja: A Nigerian court has quashed the deportation order of three India-born British businessmen brothers, who were deported by the government in April after the country's anti-graft agency sealed one of their companies over a fraud petition. The Federal High Court also rejected repatriation of expatriate staff of their company and restored the withdrawn expatriate quota for Stallion Group owned by Sunil Vaswani, Haresh Vaswani and Mahesh Vaswani. Justice A M Liman ruled that Vaswanis cannot be deported, government cannot withdraw their expatriate quotas and repatriate their staff without complying with Nigerian laws. The Judge held that failure of the relevant authorities to seek and obtain representation from Stallion Group before the prejudicial action against them is a breach of their fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
China offers loan to Africa Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt): Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered Africa $10 billion in concessional loans over the next three years saying China was a true and trusted friend of the continent and its people. The aid offer is double that unveiled by President Hu Jintao at the last summit in Beijing in 2006 to the discomfort of some in the West. "We will help Africa build up financing capacity," Wen told a summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm elSheikh, laying out China's assistance to the continent for the next three years. "We will provide $10 billion in concessional loans to African countries." Blossoming trade and business ties have drawn Western criticism that Beijing is only interested in African resources, while Chinese commentators retort that envious Europeans still treat the continent like a colony.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi ‘may be freed’ Yangon: Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi may be released soon, a senior diplomat from Myanmar has hinted. Min Lwin, the director-general of Myanmar's foreign ministry, said on Monday that the military government intended to allow Suu Kyi to play a role in next year's general elections. The 64-year-old Nobel laureate has been in detention for 14 of the past 20 years, and recently had her house arrest extended for another 18 months. Despite the remarks, the country's constitution
for Suu Kyi, said that she had not received official notification that she may be freed. US envoy holds talks with Suu Kyi Last week, Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state, and Scott Marciel, his deputy, became the most senior US officials to visit Myanmar Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, right, since 1995. walks with U.S. Assistant Secretary The two envoys of State Kurt Campbell held talks with senincludes provisions that ior figures from the govbar her from holding ernment, including office. Nyan Win, a lawyer Myanmar's prime minister,
Thein Sein, but not Than Shwe, the general who has ruled the country for the last 17 years. They also held talks with Suu Kyi. On Monday, Suu Kyi, expressed hope that US engagement with the county's military rulers could spur democratic reforms, her lawyer Nyan Win, said. In rare praise, Suu Kyi thanked the government for allowing her to meet the US envoys. "She told us she was quite satisfied with Mr Campbell's visit ... she said he's the sort of person we can work with," Nyan Win told reporters.
Japanese actress jailed for drug use Tokyo: Noriko Sakai, a highly popular Japanese singer and actress was given a suspended jail term of 18 months after being held guilty of using illegal stimulants. Sakai shot to fame in late 1980s with her pop songs and later she also became an actress. Sakai hit the media headlines in Japan as well as in some other parts of Asia where she has a large fan following. She and her husband Yuichi Takaso were arrested in August
Noriko Sakai
for possession and use of drugs. She remained in detention for almost 40 days before being released on bail.
Her trial has attracted intense media and public attention, as more than 3,000 people queued up in a park near the courtroom for one of the 21 gallery tickets to see the verdict, while hundreds of others jostled with the media to get a glimpse of the actress as she was entering and leaving the building. Sakai's case follows the arrest of other highprofile personalities on substance abuse charges, including a Russian sumo
wrestler who was later expelled from the sport. While legalising marijuana or using it for medical purposes has been debated and approved in some western countries, such ideas haven't caught on in Japan. In one of the country's most infamous busts, Beatle Paul McCartney spent nine days in a Tokyo jail in the 1980s after arriving at the airport with a bag of marijuana in his suitcase.
Deepak: The Mumbai Hero who has turned tragedy into a charity mission Last weeks AV generated a lot of interest in one story related to Mr Deepak Kuntawala who was in the Taj at the time of last years attacks in Mumbai. We caught up with the busy schedule of Mr Kuntawala to ask a few questions: a. Can you tell us something about your family background and how you came to this country? My Grandfather, Keshavji Kuntawala emigrated in the early 1900’s to Kabwe, in Zambia from his home in a village called Daman in Gujarat. He built a successful business up from scratch and was highly respected both in business and by our community. My father, Vinay Kuntawala, along with his to brother, Suman and Uday collectively decided to emigrate from Zambia to the UK in 1977. They established Kaysons Trading Company which was acquired by DK in 2006 and then merged to become part of the DVK group. I was born in Kabwe, Zambia and came to the UK in 1977. I am married to Rupal Patel, have three sisters and live in Surrey. b. When you were growing up, what was your dream in life? My aspirations have always been to create a business with a brand that stands to add value in society with core principles aligned to family values (we would not be involved in tobacco, alco-
hol or meat products or associate with organizations involved in child labour). A cornerstone within our corporate and social responsibility policy is ‘contributing to society’ by allocating a percentage of our profits to good causes. c. What is it that you do currently? I began my career as an analyst in Legal & General Pensions Division and then onto corporate strategy within Lombard Business Finance. I was head hunted by Credit Suisse First and have also worked with UBS and Warburg’s. Business is in my blood and once I joined the family firm, it was not long before I was involved with imports from the fareast. In fact, within 14 months we were importing around 46, 40 ft containers of goods from the Far East. In 2007 we decided to focus more on corporate clients requiring volume orders. The UK operation was groomed in order to orchestrate a management buyout which also enabled us to focus on the finance industry and opening an office Hong Kong. DVK has since leveraged infrastructure in India, China, Hong Kong, Panama, Ghana as well as very powerful finance and banking relationships to offer supply chain finance solutions to clients worldwide, across an array of sectors including commodities such as oil,
Deepak Kuntawala
metal, coffee, cement, sugar as well as industries like motor and textiles to name a few. My current team consists of specialist finance and investment banking experts and includes the ex-head of securitization of Commerzbank, the exCEO of Trade Finance Chase Manhattan, JP Morgan Real Estate, Barclays capital real Estate, head of PWC structured products Luxembourg, ex-head of corporate finance at Fair Fax PLC, Head of the Embassy of Qatar, Head of National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia trade finance division, an ex-advisor of trade finance to Hinduja bank and the ex-director of HSBC Alternative Investments in Cayman Islands. d. You have had a very traumatic experience last year when Mumbai came to a standstill with the attacks by the terrorists. How has that affected you? Firstly, the attacks resulted in my father being injured, having his legs crushed and leading him
to be disabled. Watching him free fall 24 odd feet and landing on his back is unexplainable and traumatic. Within days after returning back from Mumbai I became very ill to the point where I was unable to stand, had uncontrollable shivers and felt as if I had run 10 marathons. I was hospitalised for several months. As strange as it sounds – the experience has been life changing and very rewarding. I am reminded of the words of Bruce Barton, ‘Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.’ e. Can you tell us a bit more about the patrons and trustees of the DVK Foundation? The idea of the DVK Foundation was to raise funds for victims of atrocities that take place around the world, as well as other worthy causes. HRH Prince Michael of Kent GVCO is the Chief Patron and has close links with India and a long association with the Taj Hotel. We have some very powerful trustees that include: Oliver Felstead who is now the CEO of DVK . Oliver was cofounder and CEO of Cornhill Property Investment Limited and has worked for a Singapore Bank, Phillip Securities, and Refco, a director of CCKL, a Malaysia Development Company and a
Consultant to Mercury Global Holdings. Edward Lawson Johnston - is CEO of LJ Capital Ltd and was Founder and Managing Director of Cornhill Property Investments Limited. Over the last few years he has built up an indepth knowledge of the emerging markets including Eastern Europe, Russia, CIS, India and the UAE. Harry Lawson Johnston is Managing Director (UK) of Guggenheim Partners which is a global independent privately held diversified financial service. Jamie Reuben Director of the Reuben Foundation which is committed to many charitable projects. Navin Fabiani is involved in private equity and venture capital businesses. Sanjay Dhir, a very successful young entrepreneur. f. That is a very powerful list of key individuals. What does the DVK Foundation wish to achieve say over the next 5 years? We aim to support good causes – we have recognized that that victims of terror need support due to my direct experience. For example we would like to work in partnership with the Chabad in Mumbai to assist in their rebuilding operation. Recently my attention has been drawn to a unique charity, ‘Food for Life’ that is currently embarking on a major project in Vrindavan to look after educational and welfare
needs of thousands of children. Such worthy causes will attract the attention of the DVK Foundation. g. You have been successful in business and now you are embarking on a major venture with DVK Foundation, who is your inspiration? People who I admire are the ones who have developed and aspired despite the odds. For example, Karan Billimoria – who often says, ‘punch above your weight!. Richard Branson, who has built an entire empire from scratch. Nelson Mandela who despite being classified as a criminal and imprisoned for 26 years still found the gift of forgiveness and rose to become the President of South Africa. h. I understand you are a vegetarian, in your line of work is this not surprising? A good point – I sometimes wonder if people really enjoy some of what they drink and eat? I have been brought up to be a lacto - vegetarian (no meat, fish or eggs) – this has been a family tradition and I have found it easy to maintain. I would say that it is important that one maintains what is comfortable to them and not follow the crowd for the sake of acceptance – I have found most people respect my values. i. If you had one wish in hand, what would that be? Peace of mind, body and soul.