October 9, 2002

The Judgment in Rex v Acres International, the first in the world’s most important international corruption trials, was handed down today in the tiny south African Kingdom of Lesotho. [The written decision is now available on-line.]

(Toronto, October 9): The Judgment in Rex v Acres International, the first in the world’s most important international corruption trials, was handed down today in the tiny south African Kingdom of Lesotho.

The Honourable Mr. Justice M.L. Lehohla of the Lesotho High Court, who delivered his guilty verdict against the Canadian engineering firm on September 13, detailed his reasons in his just released 250-page decision.

Acres was accused of paying some US$260,000 to Mr. Sole, the former chief executive of Lesotho’s Highland Development Authority, through an agent, to secure contracts in an US$8-billion dam building scheme. Acres’ defense was that it had no knowledge that Zalisiwonga Bam, its agent with whom it had a “representative agreement,” was passing money on to Mr. Sole.

Mr. Justice Lehohla found that “the representative agreement is not what it purports to be but mere sham.” This court, he said, “has overwhelmingly been persuaded and has itself made a definite finding based on solid evidence that the so-called representative agreement was just a smoke screen kept in the back ground only to be readily available as a form of an insurance should Acres or any of the parties involved find themselves faced with a prosecution for bribery.”

“The court rejects the theory that Acres didn’t know that Z M Bam was paying Sole with the money obtained from Acres,” the Judgment says.

“Z M Bam could hardly have squeezed so much money out of Acres without persuading Acres that it was worth its while. That he was paid 25% of Acres’ mark-up is a clear indication that he achieved this by letting Acres know that Sole was in on the deal.”

“The incontrovertible facts before this court are a negation of the validity of the representative agreement, thus leaving the credibility of Acres in tatters in this case,” Justice Lehohla concluded.

Acres, which will be sentenced tomorrow, has said it will appeal the decision.

A dozen other prominent firms — a “who’s who” of the international dam building industry — were similarly accused of paying bribes to Mr. Sole. The German company, Lahmeyer, is currently on trial. Next to be tried is France’s Spie Batignolles.

For the full 250-page decision on-line, see:
http://probeinternational.org/library/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/JugdmentAcres.pdf

For more information, CONTACT:
Patricia Adams, Executive Director, Probe International
Tel.: 1 (416) 964-9223 ext. 227
E-mail: patriciaadams@nextcity.com