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Sugar row: Bombay exporter denies direct dealing with Pak firm

The Bumbai-based Adam and Company, which has been charged by the Pakistan-based Fauji Foundation with resorting to unfair deal in sugar imports, has denied the allegations and said the move by the Pakistan company is aimed at generating unnecessary controversy and taking mileage out of it.

''Fauji Foundation is trying to implicate us and make capital out of media reports and fuelling controversy,'' said leading sugar exporter-importer Haroon Adam, proprieter of Adam and Company. ''There is no controversy or dispute, they are just trying to rake up the issue unnecessarily,'' he said.

According to reports, the Pakistani High Commission recently intervened on behalf of Karachi-based export house, Fauji Foundation, which is run by ex-servicemen and have dashed a letter to the ministry of commerce alleging that the deals with Adam and Company were ''unfair and disputed.''

''We never had a deal with Fauji Foundation,'' Adam said. "Fauji Foundation has entered into an agreement with a London-based firm for export of 1,850 tonnes of sugar and not with us. We do not know the people behind them,'' he pointed out. ''Why has the issue been raised now and not earlier? We have no direct dealing...We have no contract with Fauji Foundation,'' he added.

On being asked about the disputed payment, he said, ''It is just an allegation to rake up yet another controversy as the country is passing through elections.'' On August 26, the Pakistani High Commission has reportedly written to the joint secretary of commerce ministry about an alleged disputed payment of $ 107,738 to be made by the Bombay-based firm.

''We have just shipped the sugar on behalf of Ed F Mman (the London firm) and they have decided to deduct all expenses relating to demurrage, quality and quantity of consignment.'' Adam and Co made the payment through a credit note deposited with the bank and was subsequently routed through the RBI. ''How can the Fauji Foundation hold us guilty of payment dispute when we had dealings only with the London-based firm,'' he said.

He also pointed out that disputes in sugar deals are generally dealt in the London-based Refined Sugar Association. ''In case of dispute, as they alleged, they (Fauji Foundation) should have approached the RSA rather than the Pakistan High Commission and Indian media... Fauji Foundation is just trying to mislead the country and gain political mileage,'' he lamented.

UNI

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