Examination of Witnesses (Questions 380
- 399)
TUESDAY 4 JULY 2006
MR KETAN
KOTECHA
Q380 Richard Burden:
Did Afrimex, at any time, make any payments to the RCD-Goma, as
a political party or as a military organisation or anything in-between?
Mr Kotecha: No, not at all.
Q381 Richard Burden:
Did Afrimex, at any time, make any payments to any political party
or military organisation in the DRC?
Mr Kotecha: No.
Q382 Richard Burden:
Was Afrimex approached by RCD-Goma, or any other political party
or military organisation, to make payments to it?
Mr Kotecha: No.
Q383 Richard Burden:
Are you aware that the UN Panel reported that it was virtually
impossible for companies to operate in the eastern DRC during
the period you operated in the eastern DRC without dealing with
one of the military groups, most probably the RCD-Goma?
Mr Kotecha: The minerals that
were coming out to us were all coming out on an FOB basis, so
all the documentation, whatever had to be done, was done on an
ex-border basis, so Afrimex was working more in going and getting
the documents signed and getting the documents obtained. That
was all done by the licence exporters in eastern DRC.
Q384 Richard Burden:
Do you know whether the licence exporters were ever approached
by or made any payments to the RCD-Goma or any other political
party or military organisation?
Mr Kotecha: Not to my knowledge,
no.
Q385 Richard Burden:
Did you ask?
Mr Kotecha: Yes. We had a written
statement from there to say that the minerals which were coming
out were not coming out from any military sources or improper
sources; they were buying it and they were getting it from the
broker, proper mines.
Q386 Richard Burden:
That was not actually the question I asked. Did you ask if they
made any payments?
Mr Kotecha: No.
Q387 Richard Burden:
You never asked them?
Mr Kotecha: No.
Q388 Richard Burden:
We have received evidence from two of the NGOs, which produced
for us a letter from the period in which you operated in the eastern
DRC, which is pretty clear, that it is from a Major General and
basically it is asking, in no uncertain terms, for money. You
are not aware of any letter like that going to you or to any of
your agents in DRC at the time you operated there?
Mr Kotecha: No.
Q389 Richard Burden:
Have you ever volunteered to the UN Panel, given the fact that
they said it is virtually impossible to operate in there without
having approaches or having some dealings with military or paramilitary
groups, information about how you managed to have no contact when
virtually everybody else did?
Mr Kotecha: It is not a question
of not having any contact. If you are in the land and you have
been there in the land for so many years, whatever is the law
of the land you have to abide by it, so all the taxes were being
paid, all the documentation was being forwarded, whatever was
the necessary paperwork, that was all being done.
Q390 Richard Burden:
In the period in question, there was not much law of the land
going on there?
Mr Kotecha: Yes, there was; yes,
there was.
Q391 Chairman:
Who were these taxes being paid to? The reports are, basically
the Government in Kinshasa was not getting any money out of this
area, so who were these taxes going to?
Mr Kotecha: To the local government,
which was based in Goma; there was a government which was based
in Goma, including a president and right from there, so that all
the departments were actually existing within Goma, which was
controlling all of that area.
Q392 Richard Burden:
Do you know who they were?
Mr Kotecha: The RCD Government.
Q393 Richard Burden:
The RCD Government?
Mr Kotecha: Yes, the RCD Government.
Q394 Richard Burden:
So payments were made to RCD-Goma?
Mr Kotecha: They were, in some
of the taxes, yes.
Q395 Chairman:
This was a rebel organisation?
Mr Kotecha: If we had to live
there and deal there we had to pay, including even if you arrive,
you pay your car taxes, you pay your visas.
Q396 Chairman:
Actually, are you not paying into a protection racket, in that
situation?
Mr Kotecha: No, we were not paying,
saying "This is for this," or "This is for that,"
we were only paying whatever official papers were presented, asking
for taxes for this export, which was being done even before the
conflict; so there was nothing that had changed in that sense,
that during the conflict there were special payments, no.
Q397 John Battle:
Could I ask about the conditions in the mines really; why did
Afrimex continue to buy cassiterite and coltan from mines which
were reported at the time to operate using forced labour?
Mr Kotecha: As I mentioned earlier,
we asked the people from whom we are buying, the registered compliers
or the licensed compliers, and they assured us that these are
not materials coming from any such areas, these are coming from
where they have control over the mines.
Q398 John Battle:
Mines were popularly reported at the time, there was feedback
coming through to say that some of the mines you were dealing
with had forced labour as part of their arrangements. Were you
not aware of that?
Mr Kotecha: No.
Q399 John Battle:
Did you just take up, surface value, the assurances you were given?
Mr Kotecha: No. We did not deal
directly with any mines; we dealt only with the registered and
the licensed exporters.
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