Paramount guru signed jet deal

Although government denies involvement of public relations “well-wisher”, Paramount Group, in the buying of the presidential jet, Nation on Sunday reveals that a senior executive in the Ivor Ichikowitz business empire, Rob Kihn, signed the sale deal on behalf of Bohnox Enterprise.

Ichikowitz is the executive chairperson of Paramount Group, Africa’s largest privately owned defence and aerospace company. His family foundation paid British public relations firm Bell Pottinger to spruce up President Joyce Banda’s cashgate-soiled image.

Ichikowitz is also the executive chairperson of private equity group, TransAfrica Capital (Pty) Limited, where Kihn is listed as its executive director in the chief investment office.

TransAfrica is also the company that British newspaper, The Telegraph, reported last year as being understood to have brokered Malawi Government agriculture and fuel contracts for Paramount Group.

Further enquiries also mention Kihn as head of corporate finance, mergers and acquisition in the Ichikowitz empire.

A well-placed source at State House has corroborated that Kihn indeed signed the deal on behalf of Bohnox Enterprise.

These findings discredit government’s claims that there is no relationship between Paramount and Bohnox.

Our findings on the Paramount-Bohnox linkage also tie in with what Duncan Halliday, a spokesperson for Fortune Air, who initially confirmed to The Telegraph about two weeks ago that Bohnox, Fortune Air and Paramount “are all part of the group”.

Asked by The Telegraph to confirm that Bohnox was part of Paramount Group, he replied: “That’s correct.”

Halliday later said in a statement to The Telegraph that Bohnox was an “independent aircraft-owning company” and Fortune Air “is not part of the Paramount Group”.

Fortune Air is currently managing the sold jet—the Dassault Falcon 900 EX, formerly 7Q-ONE, but now registered as ZS-FCI after the ownership change.

Of the 20 times President Banda used a chartered plane between August 2 and December 15 2013, Fortune Air accounted for 17, including the three occasions the now controversial ZS-FCI was used.

Revelations about the Paramount-Bohnox relationship also raise questions of why the Banda administration is working so hard to keep Paramount out of the jet deal limelight.

Commentator Chris Chisoni of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) said yesterday that the Nation on Sunday information indicates that Paramount is the ‘well-wisher’ that State House said is paying for the jet charters, but whose identity was kept secret, especially after the Bell Pottinger fallout.

Paramount’s image cleaning ‘benevolence’ came in the same breath as when news broke that it secured a lucrative military equipment deal from the Malawi Defence Force, of which President Banda is the Commander-in-Chief.

The Telegraph reported last year that Banda has commissioned seven interceptor boats from Paramount Group which will be fitted with arms to patrol Lake Malawi, a deal critics say did not follow Malawi’s procurement processes.

The Malawi Government will also be paying Paramount to provide training and maintenance for the boats over the next five years as well as potentially buying other large boats from it.

As well as taking orders for military hardware, Paramount, according to the paper, through Trans Africa Capital, is also understood to have signed agriculture and fuel contracts with Malawi.

It is, therefore, curious that the same company that bought the jet is leasing it back to the Malawi Government, charges Chisoni.

“It is a shame that government has chosen to maintain a lie. We can only speculate that the lies were aimed at hiding Paramount from Malawians because of the shady deals the administration has with it. It all borders on dishonesty and a lack of willingness to be transparent and accountable to the Malawian people,” he said.

When contacted this week, special adviser to the President on political and communication affairs Wakuda Kamanga refused to comment on the Paramount-Bohnox link and referred the matter to “relevant agencies, departments or individuals directly linked to the transaction.”

“President Joyce Banda was never involved in processing the transaction and has never been involved in any clandestine activity with anybody arising from anything to do with the plane in question.

“Thank you very much for your questionnaire and unceasing passion in pursuing this matter. May I inform you that the presidency feels this matter has been discussed for too long now and it is not our intention to continue discussing it,” said Kamanga.

Information and Civic Education Minister Brown Mpinganjira said in an interview that he needed more time to consult.

Both Fortune Air and Bohnox Enterprise have said in different statements—released through Malawi’s Ministry of Information—that they have no shareholding relationship with Paramount Group.

In his home country South Africa, Ichikowitz—industrialist, philanthropist and entrepreneur—has created controversy with his close ties to the African National Congress (ANC) leaders, including President Jacob Zuma who has also enjoyed free executive jet rides from the billionaire much to the chagrin of watchdogs.

South Africa’s respected paper, Mail&Guardian, reported in 2009 that Ichikowitz “has made a career from turning political connections into profit”.

His company jet once ferried the late Nelson Mandela to a Jacob Zuma election rally in Transkei.

In December 2008, Ichikowitz flew Zuma in the luxuriously converted Boeing 727 to Lebanon and Kazakhstan for what the Mail&Guardian said were ANC fundraising and business meetings.

The paper quoted Ichikowitz as confirming to have provided that flight gratis, but said he went along to test upgrades to the jet and did not attend the meetings.

He also told the M&G that the business community should “transparently and voluntarily provide both the financial and skills resources political parties need to participate in the democratic process”.