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The Day the BDF Seized Nitin Amersey’s Company

Posted in February 4th, 2008

An international intrigue involving the Cotton Industry in Barbados

Nitin Amersey
Who is Nitin Amersey? Nitin Amersey comes from a prominent family of cotton merchants in India. He is an outstanding businessman in his own right, as witnessed by this report from Forbes. Mr. Amersey knows cotton, and is highly regarded as an international businessman.

Amersey and Carsicot
In 1988, Mr. Amersey formed Caribbean Sea Island Cotton Company Ltd., or Carsicot.
The two major shareholders were: Mr. Amersey - 51%, and the Barbados Government - 33%.

Barbados Government Short-Lived Delight with External Investment
Initially the Government was delighted that Mr. Amersey was investing millions in Barbados, but at some point the local cotton growers and politicians grew envious of Mr. Amersey. They accused him of wrongdoing, but a forensic audit revealed no evidence to support this. Despite this, the Government changed the locks on Amersey’s office without notifying him.

Caught Someone Trying to Burn Down his House
Mr. Amersey had said that he had caught someone trying to burn down his house. This was around 1990! Oh, how history repeats itself! No one was charged with arson.

Winning in Barbadian courts, but defeated by the BDF!
This rough treatment did not scare off Mr. Amersey. He filed and won a court order in Barbados entitling him to $2 million worth of Carsicot equipment. The Chief Justice at this time was Sir Denys Williams. While Amersey was sorting his assets, three hundred gun-toting Barbados Defense Force soldiers seized the equipment! The BDF would not say where they were taking it.

Keltruth Corp. calls for an explanation
Amersey appealed to the Bajan court system, but he got an unpleasant surprise. A judge threw out his case saying he could not interfere with Government policy! If this report is true, Keltruth Corp. would like an explanation of the apparent reversal of the Barbadian Courts’ opinion. Citizens of Barbados need to be assured that the Legislative Branch of Government does not exercise undue influence over the Judicial Branch. Citizens need to know three things:

Who ordered the BDF to seize these assets?
Why was this order given?
Was this order authorized by the courts?

Bajan Detectives sent to Montreal to Investigate Amersey

The National Post reported that two Barbados detectives flew from Barbados to Miami to investigate Amersey. The Globe and Mail said that Barbadian police attempted to search his Canadian bank records without government approval.

Canada-Barbados Treaty
Mr. Amersey took his dispute before a World Bank arbitration board under an investment treaty between Canada and Barbados.

Amersey sought US$10 million damages
“ IF THE CARSICOT dispute does wind up before an arbitrator Scothalls will seek the following relief: - US$10 million in damages for what the company claims was the
illegal expropriation of the assets of Carsicot;….”
From: The Broad Street Journal’s edition of October 6, 1999

Cotton Today
Barbados is still struggling to make cotton farming viable. Even Mia Mottley is considering Sea Island Cotton again even though p esticides alone are not enough. I wonder if she will be calling Mr. Amersey?

Let’s hear your opinion!

This post is based on articles in the following Canadian Newspapers:

National Post (Cotton deal turns rotten for offshore business)
The Globe and Mail (Cotton merchant takes on Barbados)

More reading: What is Sea Island Cotton? - EXCLUSIVE CARIBBEAN COTTON INC - Barbados Cotton Production Statistics - BackGround On Cotton

7 users commented in " The Day the BDF Seized Nitin Amersey’s Company "

Allen Taylor said,

in February 4th, 2008 at 1:34 am

I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.

Allen Taylor

Green Monkey said,

in February 5th, 2008 at 11:49 am

Re. “pesticides are not enough” for growing cotton successfully. Here is a story on successful organic cotton growing (no chemical pesticides at all) in Zambia.

Br. Paul’s Organic Cotton and Vegetable Farm

Brother Paul Desmarais of the Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre of Lusaka in Zambia is a happy man. He has just demonstrated that cotton can be grown organically, and furthermore, at yields up to more than twice the national average. That is quite an achievement as cotton is notorious for consuming the most agrochemicals of any crop, some 21 percent of that consumed worldwide; and most people have been led to believe that cotton cannot be grown without chemical sprays.

“I am confident that anyone can grow cotton organically in Zambia”, says Br. Paul, beaming from ear to ear. You need to do only two things: increase the fertility of the soil with organic matter, and put extra local plant species into the cotton fields to control insect pests.”

Plants that are sick or doing poorly will be the first to succumb to insect pests; so keeping a crop healthy with fertile soil reduces insect attacks.

The species inter-planted with the cotton crop are those that attract pests away from the cotton crop or beneficial predators, or provide home for beneficial predators; many species serving both purposes. For example, munsale (sweet sorghum) attracts bollworm and aphids as well as a host of beneficial insects; nyemba (cowpeas) provides a habitat and food source for ants and predatory wasps, and also attracts the pests leafhoppers, aphids and bollworms; sanyembe (sunhemp) is highly attractive to beneficial insects as a border crop and controls nematodes as well. Delele (okra) attracts bollworms, caterpillars and leaf eaters; milisi (maize) traps aphids on tassels and bollworms; mupilu (mustard) attracts beneficial hover flies and parasitic wasps as well as aphids on which they feed. Malanga (sunflower) attracts bollworm moths to lay eggs, and the beneficial lacewings that feed on aphids. A horizontal row containing a mixture of all these were planted for every 20 rows of cotton in the field bordered by sunnhemp on two sides. A host of other species can be planted, adding to the diversity of the farm. A variety of trees, such as Sesbania , Leucaena , and other indigenous species can act as windbreaks and provide habitat for farmers’ friends and provide material for composting and making teas.

SNIP

Br. Paul majored in plant pathology while studying for his agricultural degree, his studies were focussed on the Green Revolution. He confesses, “When I came to Zambia, I naively thought that I would change things here. During the first 15 years, I promoted the use of fertiliser, chemical spraying in the vegetable gardens and using hybrid seed. It finally dawned on me that we were not going anywhere. Every year farmers were asking for loans to buy seed and fertiliser. Farmers made some money on maize production in only two years out of those 15 years.”

As he looked round, he realized it was not only at Kasisi and in Zambia, or Latin America that farmers were doing poorly. It was the same in Europe and North America. “In North America, farmers I knew personally have gone bankrupt. They would have been considered role-model farmers, doing everything according to the advice given by the government agricultural extension officers and agricultural universities. But they went bankrupt and lost their farms. The excuse offered was that inefficient farmers were being weeded out.”

SNIP

In the 1980s, someone suggested to Br. Paul that he should look at organic agriculture, but he thought it was strictly for a small left-wing group who had enough money to pay for this type of farming. Nevertheless when he returned for home leave in Canada in 1988, he visited organic farmers, and found them to be successful. He studied the principles of organic agriculture in Ontario and adapted them to the situation in Zambia, and has never looked back.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/BrPaulsOrganicFarm.php

Caribbean Sea said,

in February 6th, 2008 at 2:53 am

[…] The Day the BDF Seized Nitin Amersey’s Company […]

hmmm....... said,

in February 9th, 2008 at 7:04 am

Great research info. Thank you Green Monkey

supared said,

in February 9th, 2008 at 7:30 pm

sounds like a case of envy unless there is evidence to the contrary. you know how small island politics work. small pond with a few big fish. nobody goes to jail.

admin said,

in February 9th, 2008 at 8:27 pm

supared,

Well some people are probably very envious of Nitin Amersey …

Barbados lost money and reputation in this deal. It would be nice if the Government would clear the air with a statement on this issue.

These cases take many years. What happens today could be decided in court 10 years later. This is why, in our view, it is necessary to dig up old issues.