ARTICLE PUBLSHED IN THE DAILY NEWS IN JUNE 2006 THE SALIENT POINTS ARE HIGHLIGHTED IN RED

Businessman accused of harassing foreign investor

MOSHI businessman Benjamin Mengi has been accused of using the police and judiciary to terrorise British investors who bought a farm from him in Hai District two years ago. David Stewart Middleton and his wife Sarah have told the 'Daily News' that their dream to settle in what they were made to believe was 'investor-friendly Tanzania', had turned into a nightmare because of routine harassment by police and abuse of judicial process in cases allegedly manipulated by the businessman. The Minister for Planning, Economy and Empowerment, Dr Juma Ngasongwa, confirmed that the investors had appealed to him as well as the ministers for justice and public safety, with whom they were addressing the complaints. Dr Ngasongwa said the investors were bona fide and had been registered by the Tanzania Investment Centre. They have the full support of his ministry, he said. "They are using local organs to harass legal investors. This is open corruption, which I strongly condemn. It shames us as a nation, which has set out to attract foreign investors," said the minister. Mengi could not be reached for comment yesterday. Two mobile telephone numbers made available to the 'Daily News' were not reachable. A spokesperson for Justice Minister Dr Mary Nagu said their response to the complaints would be communicated to the British couple confidentially. Mr Middleton said the latest instant of harassment was the arrest and arraignment for allegedly framed up charges of his manager, Able Ngodja, on Tuesday, whose bail was being delayed under questionable circumstances. According to the complaints to the government by Middleton, Mengi has used influence to have the Regional Land Tribunal to hear his application to evict them from the farm, which is abusive, because the Tribunal has no jurisdiction over matters involving value exceeding 50m/-. Mr Middleton says they bought the lease for the 530-acre Silverdale farm and Mbono Estate from Fiona Limited, a company owned by Mengi, for 112,000 US dollars (about 140m/-), which was paid in two installments in May and November 2004. He said they have invested 400,000 US dollars and employs 120 workers growing vegetables for the local and export markets with plans to grow coffee. In a letter to the Tanzania Investment Centre last December, the former British High Commissioner in the country, Mr Andrew Pocock, complained against the mistreatment of the investor. "Instead of being helped, he has been harassed at every stage. Not only have

attempts been made to seize his farm illegally, but those attempts have been assisted by the Moshi police and judiciary," he lamented. Meanwhile, the Hai District Veterinary Office has placed dairy cattle and goats kept by Mengi's wife, Millie, on a portion of the Silverdale estate under quarantine following the break-up of the foot-and-mouth disease last April 6. Mr Middleton, however, complained that the quarantine, which was declared more than a month after occurrence of the disease, was not being enforced. A report by the Officer-in-charge of the Northern Zone Veterinary Investigation Centre in Arusha, Dr E. Swai, said 18 animals had died when they visited the farm mid-last month.

Source:dailynews

2/6/2006

Following this publication, Benjamin Mengi sent the following demand letter.

Note he states, that we PUBLISHED the article in the Daily News. The following plaint was then received from Mengi

There is clearly no cause of action and the plaint is legally defective. We are not the publishers, printer or writers of the article in the Daily News and causing to be published was not pleaded. I am not going to go into what happened regarding the trial just to say we were not present, the whole trail was manipulated to make sure we were not there and heard in

out absence. Judgement was of course given to Mengi and this was what was published by IPP Media.