Two South African Tanzanite Mining Companies have been accused of forging signature of a businessman in Arusha on registration documents required to get licence to operate mining activities in the country.
This was said by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Ahmed Makere, while testifying in a forgery case involving Arusha-based company - African Gem Resources Ltd and AFGEM Trading Limited and their directors Mervyn Shein and Michael Nunn.
The defendants are being sued by Henry Nyiti for 50m/- USD over fraudulently using his name on company documents that showed that he was a director and subscriber of the said companies.
Testifying before Judge Augustine Shangwa yesterday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ahmed Makere who is currently in remand prison together with the former Dar es Salaam Regional Crime Officer, Abdallah Zombe and 13 others for charges of murder, claimed the company forged the signature.
ASP Ahmed who at that time worked with the Criminal Investigation Department, at the Forensic Bureau, Police Headquarters claimed that on October 7, 2001 he received a letter while he was at the office from advocate Nyange asking him to investigate some disputed signatures.
The signatures were on the documents which were brought to the Police headquarters together with the letter. The disputed signature was supposed to be compared with a specimen signature of one Henry Nyiti.
It was claimed that the signature was on the document of registration of AFGEM. After the investigation the results showed that there were different characteristics between disputed signatures and specimen signature.
That means that the one who signed on the disputed document did not sign the specimen document. The witness claimed that he took the results to the court and his conclusion was that the signature of Henry Nyiti was forged.
The witness was being led by Evarist Sekaboy whereby Nyiti is claiming a total of USD50m from the defendants for using his name in their businesses.
He claimed that sometime before June, 2001 Mervyn Shein and Michael John Nunn used to be his business partners dealing in tanzanite gemstone mining in Mererani, Arusha and that was before their relationship went sour and hence left the company.
The businessman in the plaint claims damages for the unlawful acts of the defendants as he was not the promoter, subscriber or director of the AFGEM Trading Ltd, but still the company continued using his name as if he was their subscribers and directors.
He claimed that his name was being used in certificate of incorporation number 384221 dated December 2, 2002, a letter of search at BRELA of June 6, 2001, Memorandum and Articles of Association of AFGEM and Certificate of Compliance of AFGEM Trading Ltd.
Nyiti claimed that the acts of the defendants have resulted in his exposure to liabilities such as the High Court civil case number 23 of 2001 filed by Federation of Miners and others.
He also claimed that his being involved in the businesses of the defendants put him into hostility relationship with small scale miners known as ``Apollo`` while the defendants continued to benefit millions of dollars.
He further claimed that despite his efforts to demand removal of his name from the directorship and shareholding of the companies, the defendants refused or ignored to heed to the same.
He submitted to the court that the demand letter to ask the company to drop his name is dated June 7, 2001.
Nyiti prays to the court for the pecuniary damages and also removal of his name from the defendants businesses, costs of the suit and any other relief the court may deem fit.
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