INVESTOR WARS TURN BLOODY! Two Chinese investors attacked, beaten robbed by rival fellow Chinese, army; admitted at Nakasero hospital

In what appears to be investor wars, two Chinese investors were reportedly attacked in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, September 18, 2024 at their rented apartment in Namanve Industrial park located 10kms East of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda.

They have been identified as Liu Qingshan, 63, and Lu Hanbin, 32, the owners of the Ugandan NEC-WATU Automobile Group United Company, a joint venture with UPDF’s private company NEC. The company specializes in automobile vehicles, filters and air cleaners.

The attack reportedly happened in the morning at 5:00 am.

Ironically, the attackers are suspected to be fellow Chinese who were in company of armed men likely belonging to UPDF.

Preliminary information obtained by this publication indicates that Seven Chinese citizens led by one Martin attacked, beat and robbed Qingshan, Hanbin.

The victims were targeted while they slept, with attackers destroying doors and windows to gain entry.

They were severely beaten and left for dead.

Two mobile phones, a desktop computer and a laptop computer were stolen.

The attackers reportedly fled in five vehicles, one of which had the license plate number UBF 588F and was a white Prado.

Police were alerted but only arrived after the attackers had fled the scene.

A case of assault was registered at Namanve police station with SD number 03/18/09/24.

The victims were rushed to Nakasero hospital where they are nursing Head, back and legs injuries.

Investigations further show that the attackers fled taking the direction of Mbale and in particular were suspected of traveling to Mbale Industrial Park managed by Tian Tang Group.

Their vehicle was last seen on the Jinja Bridge camera at 0140 hours, escorted by two unidentified personnel from UPDF 3Div, armed with 02 submachine guns.

 

 

The attack comes hours after the two victims on Tuesday evening released a statement on how they are being unfairly thrown out of Mbale Industrial Park by Tian Tang Group.

They are threatening to close the factory and go back to China after a reported harassment from a partner company. They want President Museveni to intervene and save real investors if he is to realize his industrialization agenda for Uganda.

In an interview with Red Pepper, Qingshan accuses Tian Tang boss, Zhang Zhi Gang, of suffocating the investment.

He says Tian Tang only contributed land as equity in NEC WATU Automobile but did not provide the land title.

“In fact, it is clear to any discerning person that this move is ultimately aimed at taking over our company because there is no evidence proving that the factory belongs to us, and they can expel us at any time,” says Qingshan.

“How can the government of Uganda give free land to Tian Tang to manage investors and the same company sells off land at a whooping USD 40,000 per acre!” a visibly angry Qingshan wondered.

“And then on top of that,” continues Qingshan, “government goes ahead to connect power and road infrastructure and when we complain of unfairness Tian Tang drags us to court! Where is the government?” questions Qingshan.

To drive this point home, NEC-Watu Automobile Company owner Liu Qingshan who is now on the verge of losing the USD6M investment allocated 15% shares to Tian Tang before he could do any meaningful business in Uganda.

In turn, Tian Tang offered 10acres of land in Mbale Industrial Park and warehouses at Namanve Industrial park.

Tian Tang bosses argue that the warehouses were provided to NEC-WATU for only a period of three years which has elapsed. They now want to repossess them.

Tian Tang has since dragged Qingshan to Mukono magistrate court demanding sh20m for reportedly violating the terms of their shareholding as we shall report in our subsequent publication.

“…Actually Zhang ‘controls’ the government! He is given land at USD 245 per acre, he sells it at USD 40,000! Is the government serious?”

NEC Watu Automobile reportedly employs close to 200 workers.

“Under such difficult conditions, we have already installed 120 units. In the future, if this project is fully completed, it will achieve an annual production capacity of 3,000 to 4,000 vehicles, basically meeting Uganda’s market demand and creating employment opportunities for thousands of people.  I want the President to know. If he doesn’t help, I will close and go to Rwanda or Kenya,” he says.

They manufacture FAW (heavy truck) and JMC (pickup).

Was the Wednesday morning attack motivated by the victims’ fallout with Tian Tang? This is a story for another day.

Qingshan started his engineering journey at the age of 26 in 1988 in China’s Shandong province and was one of the engineers that manufactured the first Sino truck then.

This may not be good news to President Museveni who has been consistently preaching the industrialization gospel and willing to offer all sorts of incentives in order to attract investors and industries.

WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT

The current developments come at the heels of a whistleblower report which shed more light on the dealings of Tian Tang Group as far as management of Mbale Industrial Park is concerned.

In a joint initiative with the Government of Uganda, Tian Tang secured about 600 acres of land in Mbale on a 49 years lease.

Tian Tang Group reportedly pays the government only 5$ or about sh18500 per year for this lease.

 This implies in 49 years, Tian Tang Group will pay 245$ or about sh911,079 to the Government of Uganda.

Ironically, Tian Tang Group, oblivious of the GoU generosity, is now being accused of selling the same land to unsuspecting fellow Chinese investors between USD 40,000 to 200,000 per acre.

It is alleged these shady dealings are ongoing with the knowledge of some officials at Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) and in the GoU as we shall reveal in our subsequent publication.

We are told on top of selling them this land expensively yet Tian Tang acquired it for free; the unsuspecting Chinese investors are also pressured to give up some shares in their respective factories to Tian Tang Group, some officials at UIA and in the government.

“This is our land, but they are selling it off like it is theirs! I feel like these Chinese [Tian Tang] are selling our country just to make money pretending to be investors. The roads and power facilities in the park were built by the Uganda government on taxpayers’ money, yet under the guise of developing Uganda’s economy, they have acquired vast tracts of land at rock-bottom prices, resell it and continue to demand more funds from our government,” alleges a whistle-blower.

We are also told Tian Tang Group is also allegedly renting out empty warehouses for USD 5 per square meter every month.

“Many of the factories in the Mbale Industrial Park are just empty warehouses for rent. Tian Tang uses the land they got from the government to attract contractors to build these warehouses, and then they rent them out.”

According to the whistleblower, these shady dealings by Tian Tang are the reason why a few products made from Mbale Industrial park are expensive because the investors want to recover the cost of investment.

“An official at one of the Chinese stockings factories told me they could sell stockings for just sh2000, but because of the rent and land costs from Tian Tang Group, they are forced to sell them for sh4000. This is making them less competitive in the market.”

The whistleblower further adds that many Chinese operators in the industrial park are struggling, and some have already gone bankrupt and left Uganda.

 “So they [Tian Tang Group] are not attracting investors for our country like they said in their propaganda, and our workers are losing their jobs, because the factories are shutting down and the real investors will never get land! It is the selfish landowner who is supported by our corrupt government officials!”

 It is alleged that every time the big men from the government come to visit, Tian Tang Group trains Ugandan employees there on what to say and how to smile.

“They force us to only tell good stories, never the truth! I believe in God, Sir, and I can’t keep lying for the Chinese!”

Tian Tang Group has also reportedly blocked all the efforts by the real Chinese investors to meet President Museveni to express the difficulties they face.

 “I am very sure that some corrupt officers [in UPDF] are working with Tian Tang because I have heard with my own ears that they charge new real Chinese investors to meet ministers!”

It is further alleged that the Tian Tang bosses have significant power and connections with many officials in the government, from the local level all the way up.

“They [Tian Tang bosses] are in cahoots with corrupt officials, selling off our land for profit. It’s alarming how, during visits, they often wear masks and cover their car number plates, making it nearly impossible to identify them. But I recognize some of these individuals are from the Uganda Investment Authority.”

It has further been alleged that Tian Tang bosses are busy repatriating large sums of money from the industrial park land sales back to their country “through the black market”.

And to keep the industrial park running, they have allegedly also borrowed heavily from Ugandan banks.

“What if the owners escape and never come back, who will return those loans?”

There are whispers that a recent serious fire incident at one of the factories may not have been an accident but rather an act of arson by insiders!

The Mbale Industrial Park encompasses the production of a wide range of goods, including glass, fabrics, household detergents, mobile phones, smart televisions, baby diapers, garments, LED bulbs, tubes, energy meters, and stockings.

Tian Tang Group and UIA have been contacted for a comment.

---

 

About Post Author