Savanna Tobacco says industrial espionage by its tobacco industry arch rivals is suffocating its potential and capacity to increase exports by a factor of at least 50 percent.
Executive chairman Mr Adam Molai said in an interview last week that customers were being haunted and their products confiscated in what could throw the victims out of business…
British American Tobacco Zimbabwe was recently caught in an intricate web of controversy over allegations of employing industrial espionage tactics against its competitors, Kingdom, Savanna Tobacco, Breco, Cutrag, Trednet and Chelsea although this has remained difficult to prove.
However, its handlers have hitherto courted similar controversy on the continent with media reports alleging this is the group’s modus operandi in other markets in Africa.
According to media reports in Nigeria, in April 2002 a legal team from South Africa’s Port Elizabeth obtained urgent court orders in three SA High Courts, sanctioning them to raid offices of BAT, South African Revenue Services and a firm of private detectives called Forensic Security Services.
Three high court judges ordered searches at BAT South Africa offices in Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria, including the offices of the Sars and Forensic Security Services, a private investigating firm allegedly hired by BAT.
In its court application, Apollo Tobacco accused BAT of plotting with tax authorities and private detectives in “industrial espionage”.
Apollo alleged BAT conspired with the Sars officials to obtain confidential information about Apollo’s business operations.
Although the raids on BAT offices yielded incriminating documents from seized computers, BAT denied it had done “anything wrong to undermine Apollo Tobacco’s legitimate business”.