Cochin International Airports lacks financial transparency: CAG, AG Reports.

UAE Ministry of Education, Companies conduct f School Website Competition

first exclusive Benedetti-Milano jewellery boutique in the UAE

US Worldwide Caution against Terrorrist Hits on American Targets

October 25, 2001

Cochin International Airports lacks financial transparency: CAG, AG Reports.

KAG, CAG points out understatement of loss-- Rs. 26.63 crores

Average Traffic 120 flights per week, 18000 passengers per week.

 

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Nedumbasseri: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pointed out serious lapses in the audited accounts of Nedumbassery International Airport, which has incurred a heavy loss of Rs.26.63 crores in the financial year 1999-2000. The Accountant General (Audit) of Kerala has also qualified the balance sheet of Cochin International Airport Ltd.

The CAG had informed the shareholders that current liabilities calculated by the company at Rs.4548.39 lakhs amounts to an understatement of liabilities and capital work in progress under Fixed Assets. 'This does not include Rs.445 being the balance amount payable to Kerala State Electricity Board for the work of diversion of Extra High Tension lines from the airport site undertaken by the Board as a deposit work. There was a demand in September 1998 from the board for making this payment," said the latest CAG report.

Cochin International Airports argument is that at the time of construction of the airport, the state government had agreed to bear the cost of diversion of utilities. "Since the airport construction was nearing completion it was in the interest of the company to get the EHT lines diverted before the completion of the airport project," it informed the CAG. "CIAL advanced fund to KSEB to carry out the work, on the understanding that KSEB would refund the amount to CIAL on getting fund from the Government against budgetary provision.

Years after this inauguration, Nedumbassery Airport is still incurring huge loss.

An amount of Rs. 800 lakhs was provided under the head power Transmission Normally specifically for diversion of HT/EHT lines in the year 1998-99. But the funds provided in the budget was not released,' CIAL said. Other serious misstatements made by the Airport in the balance sheet said that the Board did not disclose details about the CIF (Cost, Insurance, Freight value of imported capital goods -an X-ray baggage machine worth Rs. 93.28 lakhs. Similarly details about the expenditure incurred in foreign currency paid to Ms.Helmuth Obata and Kassabuam Inc (HOK) worth Rs.54.53 lakh is not disclosed. Ditto is the case with the foreign exchange earnings of the company worth Rs.4.07 lakh. Being a public company in which large number of ordinary NRIs have investment, the board is liable to disclose all the financial transactions in a transparent manner. Otherwise shareholders will think that the company may be one of the benami firms run by politician!

"The balance on current accounts and the maximum amount outstanding at any time during the year with banks other than Scheduled banks have not been shown as provided in Part II, Schedule VI to the Companies Act, 1956. Balance sheet abstract and Companies General business profit have not been furnished in the account as per company law," the CAG report said. The company has admitted that the board committed an omission in this respect. The fact is that such omissions give ample scope for misusing the company funds by the directors for their personal business financing. The banks in which company funds are deployed are the State Bank of India, State Bank of Travancore, Federal Bank, Ernakulam District Cooperative Bank, Union Bank of India, UCO Bank, Vysya Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Dhanalashmi Bank.

A.K.Antony (Chairman), P.K.Munjhalikutty, V.Krishnamurthy, George V. Nereaparamban, Yousuf Ali M.A. (Emke Group, UAE), P.Mohammed Ali (Galfar, Oman), C.V.Jacob, E.M.Babu, E, V.Suresh, S.Sharma, M.Mohankumar and C. Babu Rajeev are the Board members. Lot of NRIs who have invested in the project are disappointed because the company is yet to break even.

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Hasher Opens UAE'S First Exclusive Benedetto-Milono Boutique

 

keralamonitor.com

October 24, 2001

Dubai: The first exclusive Benedetti-Milano jewellery boutique in the UAE was opened today by His Excellency Sheikh Hasher bin Maktoum al Maktoum, Director General, Department of Information, Government of Dubai, against a background of rising Italian exports to the Emirates.The purpose-designed boutique, in Dubai's Beach Road Jumaira Plaza Shopping Mall, marks a major retail diversification move for the multi-faceted Falaknaz Investment Group (FIG), which has the exclusive UAE franchise rights for the renowned Benedetti-Milano branded boutiques. With a project investment in excess of AED 1 million, FIG plans to launch a second of the uniquely styled boutiques in Abu Dhabi.

The opening came as the Italian Trade Commission (ITC) revealed the UAE has now surpassed Saudi Arabia as the country's leading GCC export market with Italian imports into the Emirates in the first five months of this year increasing 9% on the corresponding period last year. This comes on top of a 14 per cent rise in 2000, compared with 1999. "Jewellery and gold items are currently Italy's leading export commodity to the UAE and we are looking to leverage the country's market-leading position for this sector," said Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, Chairman, FIG, who attended the opening along with Vice Chairman, Mohammed Falaknaz.

According to Massimo Sessa, Italian Trade Commissioner in Dubai, Italian exports to the UAE touched US $1,606 million last year - with jewellery and gold items accounting for 24.5% of the trade, making Italy the fifth trading partner of the UAE after the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and Germany. In comparison Italian exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to US $1,436 million in 2000.

Sessa, who attended the opening along with Aldo Volini, Italian Consul in Dubai, commented: "By faithfully reproducing the elegant and modern Benedetti-Milano boutique design, the Falaknaz Group has created a little bit of Italy in Jumeirah."

"This boutique is very different to anything currently available in the UAE," said Viken Hadidian, Director of Milan-headquartered Benedetti-Milano. "The uniquely-styled interior reflects our company's fresh, vibrant, youthful and ultra-modern image."

The stunningly designed Benedetti-Milano primarily white gold jewellery is aimed at the middle-to-high-end market."We produce individual concepts for today's highly discerning consumer," added Hadidian. "Initial trial testing of our ranges, which include rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces and bracelets, at trade shows in the Gulf have brought an encouraging response and we believe that together with the Falaknaz Group, we can quickly establish Benedetti-Milano as the brand of choice among the target segments."

Although only two years old, Benedetti-Milano's origins date back two centuries and four generations having been formed by the merger of two of Italy's leading jewellery houses. "The new generation of the families created Benedetti-Milano to meet growing international demand for Italy-styled jewellery," added Hadidian.

FIG is a highly diverse trading group with interests in the real estate, sports, medical diagnostics, furniture and exhibitions sectors.There are currently more than 60 Italian companies operating in the UAE in various fields including oil and gas technology and exploitation, civil engineering, consulting and contracting, energy engineering, banking, steel production and refrigeration.

UAE Ministry of Education, Al Yousuf IT Companies and Intel Judge Winners of School Website Competition

Winning schools set to receive dozens of free PCs and take part in Intel's global education initiative.

DUBAI, 24 October 2001: The UAE Ministry of Education, Al Yousuf IT Companies and Intel Corporation today concluded judging of the "Al Yousuf Best School Website Competition." This nationwide competition was launched a year ago to encourage the youth of the UAE to develop web skills. More than 115 nationwide schools entered the contest.

Four winning schools - to be announced next week (31 October) - will receive state-of-the-art IT laboratories housing 12 connected PCs, a server and a hub, donated by Al Yousuf IT Companies and Intel. Individual winning team members will also receive their own PC.The judging panel comprised of representatives from the UAE Ministry of Education, Al Yousuf IT Companies, Intel and the leading IT publishing house DIT.

Picture shows: The competition's judging panel at today's meeting - Gia Marie Lacuna (seated), Managing Editor of PC Magazine, (from left to right) Osama Dudin, Director - Planning, Al Yousuf LLC, Tarek Abou El Ala, Technical Coordinator, Ministry of Education & Youth and Ned Jaroudi, Senior Government & Education Consultant, Intel.

The panel assessed all of the websites and chose the four winners based on creativity, design, content and ease of browsing. Public and private schools entering the contest were invited to design and manage their own school website in Arabic, English or in both languages. The four winning projects will be displayed at the forthcoming award ceremony, to be held on 31 October at the Taj Palace Hotel, Dubai.

The project is in line with the UAE Government's policy of integrating IT and the web into the everyday life of the local community, by introducing it to schools and e-government processes and encouraging individuals, companies and public institutions to web-enable their activities.

Co-sponsored by Intel, the leading provider of technology and Internet building blocks in education, the competition offered more than 200,000 students between the ages of 11 and 18 the opportunity to polish their skills in IT and the Internet, graphic design, content development and team building, to name a few.Intel also plans to train teachers of the winning schools to integrate the "Teach to the Future" IT curriculum, part of Intel's "Innovation in Education" initiative.

The winning UAE schools will be the first candidates in the Middle East for this worldwide Intel initiative.Dr Ahmad Saad Al-Sherif, Assistant Undersecretary for School Activities at the Ministry of Education, said: "We are delighted to work on this initiative which will complement our vision of the 21st century school; a 'smart' school which is connected to the web and has access to knowledge wherever it is available in the world."

Eqbal Al Yousuf, Vice Chairman of Al Yousuf Group, said: "IT skills and knowledge workers are the future in this new web age. This project not only aims to help students and school communities to consider the vitality of the Internet and the scope it offers for the educational process, but also encourages them to focus on this wide web world and get into action."

"We are very confident that this competition will create an Internet excitement amongst those who matter most, our children and future decision-makers. It will also help spread the IT knowledge in the school community and create an web-literate generation," said Al Yousuf.

Gilbert Lacroix, GM of Intel MEA said: "We have been extremely impressed by the standard of web sites we have seen. It has been a hard decision to choose the winners. We are also very pleased to be able to present the winners with Intel's world-beating equipment, which will clearly help the youth of the UAE gain a solid foothold on the road to their future careers."

Intel is a leading driver of Internet adoption, developing and supporting education programs that help meet the needs of students and communities by improving education through the effective use of technology in classrooms and broadening access to technology and technical careers.

US Government Reiterates Worldwide Caution against Terrorrist Hits on American Targets

Special Alert on American targets in Japan, Korean Bases.

October 23, 2001

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Washington D.C. The U.S. Government remains deeply concerned about the security of Americans overseas. "On October 7, 2001, the U.S. Government initiated military action after the events of September 11 in the United States. As a result, there is a potential for strong anti-American sentiment and for retaliatory actions to be taken against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world by terrorists and those who harbor grievances against the United States," said an alert from the US Government.

" The Department urges Americans to review their circumstances carefully and to take all appropriate measures to ensure their personal safety. Americans are urged to monitor the local news and maintain contact with the nearest American embassy or consulate. The Department will continue to develop information about potential threats to Americans overseas and to share with them credible threat information through its Consular Information Program documents," said the warning.

U.S. citizens and interests abroad remain at increased risk of terrorist
attacks, including by groups with links to Usama Bin Ladin's Al-Qaida
organization. These individuals do not distinguish between official and
civilian targets. There has been unconfirmed information that terrorist
actions may be taken against U.S. military facilities and/or establishments
frequented by U.S. military personnel in Korea and Japan. Reports of and confirmed cases of exposure to anthrax have caused an increase in anxiety over possible attacks using chemical and biological agents (CBA). Currently, the method of delivery of anthrax has been by letter or package. While the risk of such attacks is limited, it cannot be excluded. The Department will promptly share with American citizens overseas any credible information about threats to their safety. Americans should stay informed and be prepared for any eventuality.

In light of the above information, U.S. Government facilities worldwide remain at a heightened state of alert. U.S. Government facilities have and will continue to temporarily close or suspend public services as necessary to review their security posture and ensure its adequacy. In those instances, U.S. embassies and consulates will make every effort to provide emergency services to American citizens, the statement said.