Drax International LLC
| Founded | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Fujairah Tower, 11th Floor, Fujairah, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES |
| Website | http://internationaldrax.com/ |
| Footnotes / references Email: info@internationaldrax.com | |
Drax International LLC was established and registered in 2020 with its main office located in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The company is represented in Zimbabwe by Dylish Nguwaya and has been awarded a USD$60m tender by the Government of Zimbabwe to supply equipment to combat the COVID-19 (Coronavirus in Zimbabwe) pandemic through the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The whole affair was known as Covid-Gate.
Background
Drax International LLC was established and registered in 2020 with its main office located in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Drax International’s primary objective is to nourish and develop new partnerships with manufacturers seeking to penetrate markets mainly in African countries. The leading Team behind Drax International LLC is compound by people whose mission is to accumulate a strong and healthy market trust through simple principles shared unanimously: Customer First, Excellence.[1]
Strategy
- To Be a partner of choice for all their clients and suppliers
- To Provide their partners the highest level of professional services and commitment.
- To Continuously expend market presence and leadership position in their markets.
- To Be committed to their partners, and have the strategic approach and financial stability to support long term investments and partnerships.
Mission
They are committed to provide their clients with qualitative pharmaceutical products.
Objective
To be a leading company in trading of Pharmaceutical products in African countries.
Vision
To serve the healthcare industry with the highest standards and quality products.
Goal
Customer satisfaction and patient safety is the ultimate goal of their company.
Products
The companies they represent are focused on the production of numerous medicines and laboratory products as will be seen in the next section:
Medical Products
- Essential Medicines
- Vaccines
- Medical Equipments
- Covid-19 Test kit
- Medical Sundries & Disposables
- Laboraory products
Management
The company shows that it has only one signatory by the name Ilir Dedja from 11 September 2017 after taking over from Lorenzo Fornara on the same date.
Controvery
The company though they produced a statement bearing an address in UAE and a website that does not show who are the directors of the company and who are its partners and branches or subsidiaries. Though the invoices are written as Drax International LLC it shows that this company is registered in Lugano, Switzerland with no website and list of other directors as Drax Consult SAGL.[2]
Investigations show that Drax International is one of 30 suppliers of “pharmaceuticals (a) medical drugs, supplies and consumables” approved by the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (PRAZ), but no evidence that their supply deal with NatPharm went to tender. The list of approved companies, updated every three months, was published in a government gazette in October 2019. Companies should still bid for public tenders, however, and win the specified tender before they supply the government.
The new US$60 million arrangement to bring in coronavirus medical supplies announced by Nguwaya in his State House meeting with Mnangagwa also does not appear to have been put to tender, as legally required. Health minister Obadiah Moyo declined to answer questions on their dealings with Drax, and specifically whether President Mnangagwa was milking coronavirus funds through his son. Nguwaya denied his deals with the government were corrupt.[3]
DRAX International, or Drax Consult SAGL is a company registered in Switzerland, in an Italian speaking town by the name Lugano, bordering Italy. One Ilir Dedja is listed as the Managing Partner and decision maker of the company. The listed contact number for the company is +4191 9115170 to which Mr Dedja answered when contacted. He first said he was Mr Dedja and agreed he represented Drax. Upon identification as a freelance journalist from Zimbabwe he changed to say “you are talking to a lawyer.”
Asked to confirm if he was acting on behalf of Drax International he said “we are not interested in talking to you,” and he hung up. Mr Ilir Dedja has issued a statement warning to sue journalists and all publications that have reported on egregiously inflated prices for Covid-19 related goods, including NP95 face masks supplied in Harare at a breathtaking US$28 per unit. The average cost for an NP95 face mask is about US$4 per unit.[4]
Drax was registred in Switzerland on the 3rd of March in 2017, and from that date to the 11th of September 2017, Mr Dedja was partner with no signing rights. It is not known who the principle partner with singing rights was. Mr Dedja became a single signature partner or sole signature partner on the 11th of September 2017 and remains so to date. The company is registered as having no known branches anywhere, no related companies, no email address, and no website. However there are records showing the company is also listed in Dubai, more as a shelf company.
