African Wizard

He can grant every wish, even the most creative or ridiculous. It would seem impossible, or possible only to the wizard. Yes – a wizard, the African one.

 

 This is an article about a man who has been for the last years presented his skills and business contacts. Moreover, he presented his relationships with the government of the Republic of Poland and proven that he can influence virtually every decision, alter it according to his will, or even reverse it.  It is no challenge for him to rent a governmental plane or set up a proper reception of a Tanzanian Prime Minister.
It would seem that this is a complex and magical wizards’ recipe who knows what to add, how long to mix, what to remove to complete the task successfully. In reality, however, only three things suffice:  first, the location – Africa, secondly – the plan, that is notoriously repeated, and third – the assistant – the so-called „magical influence”. It is crucial to say, what the other party wants to hear, not what is the truth, and focus on signing the agreement only, not on its execution.

Heroes of the „fairy tale”
 A hero of the fairy tale – a rather unlikely story – is the African Wizard. Even though the name itself may be understandable after the few words of introduction, but the character of the person necessarily so. Witold K. is a Vice President of a private company „Contractus” with its seat in Sokółka and at the same time Vice President of the Polish Chamber of Commerce. It is no accident that he holds two positions at the same time. His position of Vice President of a company dealing with trade intermediary allow him to participate in all tenders, and being Vice President of the Polish Chamber of Commerce increases his credibility and respect among foreigners and even makes him a representative of the Polish government, according to their opinion.

Still, despite a well-thought plan he would not achieve such success if not for his trusted protector and business partner, the so-called „Magical influence”. His true name is Alexander Z. a Belarusian having several citizenships, including Israeli and American. He assists the Wizard in reaching the highest governors of African States and those who have influence on the result of tenders, often worth tens of millions of US dollars. This duo in the country which constitutes a perfect territory to do business, pursue their goals, promising literally everything, and many things suggest that they stop at making these promises.

The mechanism of action
The story begins with the Wizard and his mentor getting to the highest representatives of African States who can influence signing of loan agreements. Later on comes the involvement of the Polish Embassy, ​​which issue visas to the indicated persons, allowing them to come to Poland, where without any major obstacles they can discuss preparation of the tender documentation with the committee in such a way that his company wins the tender ….
From what we know that has been the case of tender in Kenya worth approx. 100 million USD. Since the resources for implementation of investment are public funds provided by the Polish government, this matter is of interest to proper authorities, especially that the Republic of Poland is a party to the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.

The Convention obliges the states – parties to the Convention, to punish (criminal prosecution and adjudication of a sentence by a court) bribery of foreign public officials. The bribery of a foreign public official is defined in the Convention as „deliberate offering, promising or giving by any person any undue pecuniary or other advantage to a foreign public official, for that official or for a third party, in order that the official act or refrain from acting in relation to the performance of official duties, in order to obtain or retain business or other improper advantage in the conduct of international business”.

It must be remembered that the Republic of Poland is a member of the United Nations, a party to the UN Convention (UNCAC) against corruption.
On 22 September 2015 an agreement was signed between the Government of the Poland and the Government of the Republic of Kenya. According to this agreement, the Polish government granted the Kenyan government a loan of one hundred million dollars to finance projects in the field of modernization of agriculture. The Wizard’s company won that tender. From what we know, the case is currently at the Ministry of Finance.

Further „investments”
Interestingly, many countries are interested in the so-called „investments” of the African Wizard. These include the aforementioned mentioned Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso but also Zambia, Uganda, Angola, Ethiopia and Senegal, but in addition several other countries, if they meet the conditions, and therefore it will be possible to apply for a preferential loan for the purchase of Polish machines, infrastructure and equipment.
Currently, a trade mission to Senegal is being organized, the country which has a specified plan for agricultural development. It is to take place between 24-28 July, and the head of the „magical mission” will be no other than our African Wizard, or Witold K. this time starring not a private entrepreneur, but as a representative of the Polish Chamber of Commerce. Moreover, the delegation shall consist of a representative of the Ministry of Development and the person from the Embassy of Senegal in Poland.

What the consequences of subsequent actions of the African Wizard will be? We do not know that yet, but we do know that the most important thing, for the welfare of Poland, is to prevent corruption and obscure “magical” actions…

Autor: Daniel Kleszcz

Maciej Lisowski, Foundation Director
Source: http://fundacja.lexnostra.pl/