TANZANIA: COURT SUMMONS THREE FOREIGN OIL COMPANIES

THE High Court has summoned three foreign companies engaged in gas explorations along the offshore coast of Tanzania to produce their defence documents in the constitutional petition lodged by businessman, Mr Moto Mabanga, to protect his interests in three gas blocks.

According to the summons issued early this week, the three companies, Ophir Energy PLC, Ophir Services PTY Limited and British Gas Tanzania, will appear before a panel comprising judges Shaban Lila, Aloysius Mujulizi and Zaibabu Mruke on July 28, this year.

"You (the three companies) are required to appear in this court without fail and you must produce to that day all the documents upon which you intend to reply in support of your case," reads part of the summons directed to the companies dealing with oil and gas business.

In the petition, Mr Mabanga, a Tanzanian businessman living in South Africa, claims to have been coerced by the three firms (respondents) to surrender his interests in block One, Three and Four to receive undervalued consideration of 7.5 million US dollars.

As a result, the petition filed by Marando, Mnyele and Advocates and Jethro Turyamwesiga shows, the businessman was deprived his rights to own property on a fair remuneration and compensation and was forced out of the new corporate set up on racial basis.

Such acts, including that of discrimination of being called a black African, were unconstitutional as were against Articles 13 (1) (2) (3) (4) and (5) and Article 23 (1) and Article 24 (1) (2) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The petitioner is, therefore, seeking for declaration orders sanctioning the respondents for unconstitutionality of their acts and conducts and that they benefited illegally from their unconstitutional actions against him with respect of his interests in the said oil blocks.

Mr Mabanga is also requesting the court to prohibit the respondents from continuing to benefit from their unconstitutional and discriminatory actions and that they were guilty of acting unconstitutionally and in a discriminatory manner towards him, thus ineligible and unqualified to act as legal investors.

He is further seeking for an order to protect him as provided for in the Constitution, with respect to his right to his interests in the said three gas blocks, notwithstanding the fact that he was deceived by the respondents on the matter.

It is stated in the petition that Mr Mabanga was paid in respect of his three respectively of five per cent in each of the three blocks 7.5 million US dollars, while the true value of exactly the same interests in accordance with the industry value thereof was at least 322 million US dollars.

On May 1, 2006, Mr Mabanga and Ophir Services PTY Limited executed a consultancy agreement relating to exploration and the petitioner or his nominee would be entitled to five per cent interest, which will be financed by the company with cost repaid to him from production at Libor plus three per cent.

It is alleged further that after the petitioner had done a lot of requisite services to the company, the latter changed its position on the five per cent interest that the parties had agreed upon and proceeded to coerce him into executing an agreement which has caused great loss to him.

"The respondents deliberately designed the petitioner's removal because they knew the real value of the property which they did not disclose to the petitioner because they did not want (him), a black African, to be a beneficiary of the future income of the property," reads part of the petition document.

One example of the wealth the petitioner would have acquired was the proceeds from the sale of the respondent's shares to Pavilion Energy, of which the sale of shares amounted at 1,288 million US dollars.