October 02, 2007

Yemen's Nuclear Fiasco Continued

MEMRI translates a Marib Press report about Yemen's American partner in a USD 15 billiion agreement to build five nuclear reactors

According to the report, by Munir Al-Mawri, the Powered Corporation website lists Jamal Alghani, a Yemeni immigrant, as its co-chairman and CEO for the Middle East and Africa.

Alghani, formerly 'Abd Al-Ghani, lived in Oklahoma at the same time as current Yemeni Energy Minister Mustafa Bahran, raising the question of whether personal connections had played a role in the deal.

Al-Mawri also reports that Alghani had previously been removed from the board of directors of Adair International Oil & Gas (AIGI) following allegations of fraud and lying about his personal history. He adds that Powered Corporation was listed on the stock exchange only months ago, in July 2007.

When Al-Mawri attempted to phone the number listed for the Houston office, he was answered by company co-chairman James Jeffrey, speaking on his mobile phone from Dubai. Jeffrey declined comment.

Then there's this from CFO magazine, 2002:

But it's unlikely any will top the sob story that Chris A. Dittmar, CFO of Adair International Oil and Gas Inc....the newly appointed Dittmar arrived at work the day after Adair shareholders ousted the former CEO and CFO to find that the company's financial records had all but vanished. "Key computers containing the financial records of the corporation had been stolen and all data on any other computer left behind had been deleted," with backup tapes gone as well, the filing explains. Further, as a result of the theft, the entire staff had been dismissed.

What the filing didn't say was that a corporate surveillance camera allegedly caught two direct reports of former CEO John Adair and former CFO Jalal Alghani carting off the computers. "These were evidently not the smartest crooks in the world," says Dittmar. He claims the two took the information to cover up an alleged securities-fraud scheme.

And the moral of the story is....no, not the Yemeni government is corrupt, that's a given. The moral of the story is: the free press plays a vital role in protecting citizens' interests. In Yemen, as in much of the Middle East, government officials don't always protect the citizens' interests, making the role of the press that much more pivotal. Don't forget about Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, Jawa's favorite Yemeni journalist. His fingers are healing, but his trial is coming up in a few weeks.

Update: Journalist Munir Al-Mawri lays out the whole dirty deal here, first published in Arabic in Yemen and translated to English saying, "I believe it is my duty as a Yemeni-American to make this information public and to reveal the mystery and controversy surrounding this deal. This comes out of my concern for Yemen and because I am convinced that reputable American companies do not get involved in activities that harm poor nations." Ew-rah.