Rosemarie Sant
GML ENTERPRISE DESK
Ken Emrith is now seeking legal advice and has opted to remain silent on allegations which link him to a bribery scandal involving a shell company in Brazil, which allegedly paid one million dollars to his firm, Pendrey Associates Corporation, as part of an international bid to win a US$340 million tender to expand the Wallis Bay Port in Namibia.
Leaked internal data from the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, obtained by the German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung, and shared with the international Consortium of Investigative Journalists, claims that Santa Tereza Services, a firm incorporated in New Zealand, but which is owned by another front company in London, outsourced a $1 million contract to Pendrey Associates Corporation in 2012.
According to the report, Pendrey was an offshore firm based in Panama and was tasked with determining the price of the Namibian Port Contract and producing a technical report on key aspects, such as the workforce and the bidding process.
Leaked court documents from Brazil’s “Car Wash” scandal indicated Santa Tereza paid Pendrey $1 million to “develop the technical studies that will support the pricing and the technical proposal for the expansion of the Walvis Bay Port.”
There is no other proof of Emrith’s connections to Namibia but the latest leak shows how another businessman implicated in the same bribery scandal in Brazil is linked to the company that was apparently tasked to determine the price of the Namibian Port bid.
Pires himself was questioned by Brazilian police in connection with a money laundering scheme connected to the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras.
At the heart of the transaction was offshore fixer Mossack Fonseca, which allegedly helped Emrith force through the transaction despite concerns by the Caribbean-based Bank of St Lucia International Limited.
The Consortium of Investigative Journalists sought answers from Emrith but he is reported to have said “as a businessman engaged in the private sector, both locally and regionally, I am under no duty or obligation to provide responses…”
The GML Enterprise Desk also sought answers from Emrith but all he would say is that “my attorney Larry Lalla has advised me not to speak to anybody.”
Emrith was the local consultant for the Brazilian Company OAS Construtora, which was awarded the contract to build the Pt Fortin Highway.
Johnny Smith, the chief executive of the Walvis Bay Corridor Group, a subsidiary of Namport said they never dealt with Santa Tereza.
“We also do not carry any knowledge of them being a subcontractor to any of our contractors in port,” he said, adding they do not deal with subcontractors at all “since we only contract main contractors.”
Smith said they were not in a position to speak on behalf of the main contractor on the project, China Harbour Engineering Company, and to enquire with them directly on the matter.