Paramount Holdings (PHL) Limited is facing persecution from greedy and jealous competitors who have now resorted to creating and circulating fake news about the company.
Our independent investigations have revealed that greed and jealousy are the main driving force behind civil case 868 of 2023 in which PHL directors are being accused of making a false document showing that the company is an authorised dealer of Yamaha Motorcycles in Malaŵi, our investigations have revealed.
PHL is one of the leading and most reliable suppliers of agriculture implements and construction machinery and appointed dealer for Yamaha motorcycles and other Yamaha products in Malawi.
But since Yamaha Japan appointed the company as an authorized dealer of its products in Malawi, their competitors have been creating and circulating fake news aimed at nothing, but to tarnish the image of PHL and its directors.
This is despite the fact that PHL has been contributing significantly to the welfare of Malawians through donations to public health facilities and timely delivery of farm inputs in the Affordable Input Programme (AIP).
PHL was probably the first entity to heed a call from President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera to the corporate world to help in the renovation of Area 25 Health Centre in Lilongwe after it got vandalized by the angry Mgona residents early 2023.
It is the only company that donated state-of-the-art equipment to the facility.
A few months later, PHL sourced a modern ambulance, medical equipment and furniture from a Japanese company, Itochu Cooperation and Takemoto Oil and Fat Co. Limited. The ambulance and all the other supplies were donated to Therere Health Centre in the area of Senior Chief Ngabu in Chikwawa.
At the height of scarcity of NPK and UREA fertilizers in 2022, the company successfully assisted the government in securing a huge tonnage of the inputs, which were distributed to thousands of farmers where it was contracted to supply.
But despite all this goodwill, its competitors have not relented in persecuting it using propaganda and fake news designed to tarnish its image.
Recently, one of the PHL competitors alleged that the company is making false claims about its dealership for Yamaha Motor Company Ltd of Japan to the extent that the Lilongwe Magistrate Court recently summoned three PHL directors Prakash Virgi Ghedia, Arvindkumar, Atit Patel and Suresh Khimji Jagatiya to answer three charges related to government procurement deals.
According to the charge sheet, the PHL directors are being accused of uttering a false document to Ministry of Education, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Health, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, UNC Project and Jphiego to win tenders for the supply of motor cycles showing that Paramount Holdings Ltd is an authorised dealer of Yamaha motor cycles in Malaŵi on behalf of Yamaha Motor Company Ltd of Japan.
The charges levelled against them include conspiracy to commit a felony, which is contravention of Section 404 of the Penal Code, making a false document that is contrary to Section 353 of the Penal Code and uttering false document that is contrary to Section 360 of the Penal Code.
The sheet states that the three, in August 2020, made a false document showing that Paramount Holdings is an authorised dealer of Yamaha Motorcycles in Malaŵi on behalf of Yamaha Motor Company Ltd of Japan.
Ironically, all the mentioned government ministries and UNC Project have procurement guidelines, which include the exercise of due diligence when awarding contracts of such nature.
In our interviews with relevant officials in the ministries, they confirmed that PHL delivered what was required of them according to the agreements, a feat that gave the company leverage of becoming be the choice supplier of Yamaha products to both public and private sector.
This only confirms what we found in our investigations that the case is a product of utter greed and jealousy from competitors.
