Ship Sale Row

A row has broken out between one of the country's largest ship­ping operator and its Indian counterpart.

In a war of words, Goundar Shipping Limited managing director, George Goundar, has accused In­dian broker, Rishi Aggarwal , of blackmailing his company.

This is after Mr Aggarwal claimed that Mr Goundar had misled him in a number of deal­ings.

The row is understood to be about the sale of the Lomaiviti Princess V for US$1.7million (FJ$3.7million) to HighSeas Limited. The sale took place earlier this month.

Mr Aggarwal is the sales and purchase officer focused on ships calling for recycling for HighSeas Limited.

The matter has been brought be­fore Fijian authorities.

Mr Goundar said he had known Mr Aggarwal for a number of years through other agreements.

The Lomaiviti Princess V at the scrap yard in India.

Goundar Shipping Limited law­yer, Avinesh Reddy, said Mr Aggar­wal was blackmailing Mr Goundar.

“He took only a part of the con­versation where Goundar said he wanted to avoid tax and that is to­tally fine and nothing is wrong with that,” Mr Reddy said.

“Tax avoidance and tax evasion are two different things. Everyone has the right to avoid tax but what people don’t have the right is to evade tax.”

In response, Mr Aggarwal said: “I don’t even want 20cents from him. By God’s grace we have more than enough.”

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