Judegment Day At The High Court London

Judegment Day At The High Court London
Mengi v Hermitage: Libel Claim Successfully Defended

Saturday 28 June 2014

Reginald Mengi: Two faces that tell a different story.

Reginald Mengi
Outside  the High Court in London in 2012 where he was found complicit in corruption that destroyed private sector investment in Tanzania and his “selfless dedication to humanity and a determination to labour for the public welfare” questioned.

Reginald Mengi

Reginald Mengi
  Appears in this months Forbes magazine.
 http://www.forbes.com/profile/reginald-mengi/

Spot the difference in the above photographs? 

Ironically, you cannot, they are both  the same. So what's the point? 

Well the point is, the difference in what you will read about Reginald Mengi depending on where you view the photograph on the Internet. Forbes, or the judgement in the London High Court case Mengi v Hermitage where Reginald Mengi was found to be complicit in corruption, to have misled the London High Court and to have used his media as a tool of journalistic terrorism against lawful British investors in Tanzania which led to the destruction and theft of the lease to their farm Silverdale.

Reginald Mengi features this months Forbes magazine which writes up Reginald Mengi as a great and rich African entrpreneur. 

Their website includes the following amongst copious other compliments:-

Tanzanian Millionaire Receives Lions Philanthropy Award

Mengi was granted the International Order of the Lion- the highest award the Lions Club bestows on philanthropists on Tuesday the 4th of March 2014 during a gala banquet in Dar es Salaam which was well attended by prominent Tanzanian businessmen, politicians and diplomats. Mengi ... was honoured for his “selfless dedication to humanity and a determination to labour for the public welfare”.

About his media empire Forbes state "Reginald Mengi, a newcomer to Forbes' list of Africa's Richest, chairs privately held IPP Group, a Tanzanian conglomerate that owns 11 national newspapers (including Tanzania's Financial Times, ThisDay and The Guardian), three of East Africa's most popular television stations (EATV, Capital and ITV), and about ten radio stations"

What Forbes fail to point out to it's readers is that Reginald Mengi was found by the London High Court in December 2012 to have been complicit in a particularly nasty piece of corruption, to have misled the court, probably have been guilty of criminal libel in Tanzania should the authorities have chose to prosecute him and to have used his media as a means of journalist terrorism to destroy lawful British investment in Tanzania. Importantly, the High Court found that Mengi's media operated a bias and favourable policy in favour of President Kikwete.

The High Court ruling made damning rulings on Mengi's business conduct and the use and abuse of his media power.
Forbes states that their magazine is a leading source of reliable business news and financial information. Indeed they make the following claim.

The Forbes 2014 Investment Guide: The Best Advice Of All Time

Reginald Mengi is the Chairman of the Tanzanian Private Sector Foundation and takes a very vocal anti corruption stand using his newspapers to do so. He  is a strong supporter of attracting private sector investment in Tanzania. What is extraordinary, is that Forbes, felt it appropriate not to mention anything at all about Mengi's failed High Court action where he was found guilty of being complicit in corruption that destroyed private secotor investment which left his reputation in tatters and had obvious impact on the way in which prospective investors in Tanzania, would view the business enviromnent as portrayed by Tanzania's Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) of which Reginald Mengi is chairman.

This is an extraordinary ommission by Forbes. Steve Forbes, editor in chief of the magazine states “With all thy getting, get understanding." Well readers of Forbes may get a fuller and better understanding of Reginald Mengi by reading the following press release by UK lawyers Carter Ruck after his failed libel case brought against British Lawyer Sarah Hermitage in London (extracts printed below).

http://www.carter-ruck.com/Documents/Hermitage_Press_Release-301112.pdf

The libel case, thought to have cost Reginald Mengi in excess of $5 mil can be read at the following link :-

http://www.5rb.com/case/mengi-v-hermitage-no-2/



Press Release
Date: 30 November 2012

Sarah Hermitage Libel Defence Upheld
Silverdale Farm Blog Justified

At the High Court in London today, Mr Justice Bean delivered
Judgement in favour of Sarah Hermitage, who had been sued for
libel by the wealthy Tanzanian businessman, Reginald Mengi,
the Executive Chairman of IPP Ltd,a company which holds major
newspaper and broadcasting interests in Tanzania.
Reginald Mengi sued in respect of five postings on Sarah Hermitage’s
Silverdale Farm blog and two emails she had sent, which Mr Mengi
claimed to be false and defamatoryof him.
During the trial, the Court heard unchallenged evidence from Sarah Hermitage
and her husband, Stewart Middleton, as to how they were by threats,
intimidation and corruption driven from Tanzania and forced to abandon the
investment they had made in their farm, Silverdale,of which Reginald Mengi’s
younger brother, Benjamin, then took possession.
The Court was told that a major factor in the ordeal they suffered was the
  hostile and defamatory coverage their case received from the IPP-owned
English language Guardian and the Swahili Nipashe newspapers.

Reginald Mengi, in the course of his evidence, repeatedly stated that
he“was not responsible, not accountable and not answerable”for the
editorial content of IPP publications.
In giving Judgement, Mr Justice Bean ruled:
“I find that the campaign in the Guardian and Nipashe facilitated
Benjamin’scorruption of local officials and intimidation of the Middletons
and thus helpedBenjamin to destroy their investments and grab their
properties; and that Mr[Reginald] Mengi, since he either encouraged
or knowingly permitted thecampaign, was in that sense complicit in
Benjamin’s corruption and intimidation. The allegation is thus substantially
true, and justified at commonlaw"

After handing down judgment Mr Justice Bean ordered that Reginald Mengi
should pay the defence costs at the higher “indemnity” rate. In reaching this
decision, the factors cited by the Judge included that Counsel for Sarah
Hermitage had“rightly described the litigation as “oppressive”,that
“enormous costs had been thrown at the case from the beginning,
indeed before the issue of proceedings”and that the evidence of the
Claimant and his witnesses had in a number of respects been“misleading
 and untrue.”

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