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Editorial
Namial Discrimination
- Namism - Discrimination at its worst
Or why the Finnish Miss Universe Runner-Up may not be able buy a washing machine in her MOTHERLAND!
In 1992, four years ago, we attended a convention organised by the Association for Foreigners in Finland (AFF) and the Finnish Ministry for Trade and Industry (KTM) to help foreigners establish enterprises in Finland. The language of the convention was English.
The first speaker was the Secretary of the AFF, Mr. Finn Nielsen, a healthy Danish(?) name. The keynote address was by Mr. Thomas GrosJean, a very French-sounding name, the Managing Director of the MPS Group, a company started by this American (or was it Canadian?) who had come to Finland virtually penniless, settled here and made the bigtime. His illuminating talk was followed by one by an young Englishman (or was it a Welshman?) by the name of Mr. A. Frost who had just started a language school in the southern Finnish town of Turku.
Then, we had a nice Finnish-sounding name as our fourth speaker, Mr. Ch. Haukatsalo, the Managing Director of CH Marketing Services, one of the very successful marketing companies in Finland.
When Mr. Haukatsalo started speaking, his English accent did not quite sound right to me. In a few minutes it became obvious why. His lecture was entitled "The Business Idea as the Starting Point".
His introduction was very revealing. He told the audience that they were under the impression that they were finally going to get the home-truths by being addressed by a native.But, said Mr. Haukatsalo, he was actually an Italian who had settled in Finland.
He had changed his name to a Finnish one as that was essential to start a business in Finland!
The audience, including us, roared with laughter.
But, what Mr. Haukatsalo said were pearls of wisdom. He had struck the nail on the head. In Finland, which is the only country where apartheid is still in existence, with the full acceptance and connivance of the Government, racial, sexual, linguistic (you cannot obtain Finnish citizenship unless you pass a test in the Finnish language - and hard luck if you happen to be dumb) and all the other horrible forms of discrimination are rampant. They are carefully covered up and not spoken about in the media. The media follow the strict principle of self-censorship, the realm of their Finlandised past, labelling anyone who dares to speak out as a traitor.
When we settled in Finland, coming from India, we were constantly pestered by Finns about why casteism is still practiced in India? The fact that it was illegal was not considered sufficient justification for its continued existence, and we, as Indians, were responsible for this horrible act being practiced by some sections of Indian society.
We used to point to the different forms of casteism being practiced in Finland. Whereas the law permits women to enter priesthood, certain sections of the priesthood, including the Bishop of Oulu, who is a civil servant, refuses to accept this legal edict. There is nothing the Government will do about this.
Or we point to the fact that to even replace a light-fitting the electrician-caste has to be called, even if one is a fully qualified engineer.
These comparisons have tended to make our antagonists shut up for a time.
One of the Letters to the Editor of this week shows that what is practicised in India, illegally, is a miniscule problem in relation to the offical practice in Finland, even to the extent of discriminating against people on the basis of the name of the individual.
If you do not have a Finnish name, you are an outcast from this society.
Readers may like to brush this off a one-off problem - but when they realise that the company involved in the case cited by our reader, Hobby Hall is one of the biggest mail order companies in Finland, only then can they realise that this discrimination can be practiced openly, without any fear of being hauled over the coals or of being brought to book.
- We sent a copy of the letter from our reader, by email, to the Parliamentary Ombudsman for comment. We received none.
- We sent a copy of the letter, by email, to the Finnish Consumer Council for their comment. We received none.
- We sent a copy of the letter, by email, to the to
the Finnish State Television programme
Kunningaskuluttaja concerned especially with
consumer issues, for their comment. We received
none.
To say the least, Namism, or the discrimination of people based solely on their sound of their name, also termed by us as "Namial Discrimination" is the ultimate form of discrimination. It means that you can be discriminated against, even if your contact with the other party is by letter, email or telephone, even in the official languages of this country.
Is there any other country where this form of discrimination exists?
And, what, pray we ask, will the European Union do about this? Or what will the Human Rights Activists do about this?
The answer - NOTHING.
After all, Finland is a Western Democratic Country. So it can do no wrong!
Does it not appear strange to all of you that the Finnish Miss Universe runner-up for 1996, Ms. Lola Odusoga, who has brought fame and fortune to her country, may not be able to buy a washing machine in her motherland because she has a non-Finnish name! What a tragedy!.
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- Namism - Discrimination at its worst
Gandhian Answer to Hypocritical Democracies
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Think twice before you cast your vote
the next time
I am not a Gandhian. I probably know less than most of our readers about the filmi GANDHI, as I never saw Richard Attenborough's film.
Probably only one point about the Mahatama sticks in my mind. That is his confrontation with Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The Mahatma had written to Tagore that it was good for the naton if everyove spun the wheel and make cotton thread for one hour a day. (This was to show the British the solidarity of the Indians against the textile industry of Manchester which was destroying the livelihood of the handloom weavers in India.) To this, Tagore had replied that if it was good for the nation, why should this activity be restricted to only an hour a day, why not do it for eight?
These two great people had obviously much philosophising to do to each other, but that incident taught me that even Gandhi was a mere mortal in some of his thinking.
However, his policy of non-violence did get rid of British Imperialism from India, so there was a wholesome moral in his message.
Today, we in Finland, like in other parts of the world are ruled by corrupt and inhuman politicians, who then turn around and say, "But you, dear people voted us to power" and we have no answer.
In about two weeks we have to cast our vote for 15 people who want to represent Finland in the European Parliament. We also have to cast our votes for a set of people who, we are told, will look after our interests in the local government.
We all know that not one of these people is least interested or concerned about us or the suffering of the common man - but our vote gives them the legitamacy to claim their perrogative, their rights and to line their pockets.
Not voting makes no sense as we would be branded as the ones who do not care about elections. It further only reinforces the attitudes of the victorious that they also have the support of the silent majority.
What do I intend to do with my vote?
I intend to follow the Gandhian Principle of non-cooperation, but Gandhi did not say Silence is Golden. Gandhi said that it was necessary to demonstrate the opposition to the system. This means that I will cast my vote but I will spoil the voting paper. That will show that i was not prepared to cast my vote for anyone as there was no one competent to earn my vote.
What will happen, if all of you 700000 unemployed, those parents of adult kids who have now been specially targeted to be stripped to the bone by the government, the hard hit pensioners, the psychiatrically ill who have been thrown out the hospitals, the students who have been raped by this political system, and all those other oppressed by this and previous governments did the same, if you have no trust in this government and the opposition. It is then, and only then, that the politician will sit up and take notice as this will be no gallup poll. The results will show the real magnitude of the people who are opposed to all those who claim to represent us.
If you are of this opinion - spread the word all around Finland, in the highways and byways. If you are in the US awaiting to cast your vote in the Presidential election, follow the same motto, if you think there is not one amongst the candidates who deserves your vote.
The vote is the way to let the politicians know that you cannot be taken for granted, and for sure, he will soon listen to you. Make democracy work for you - do not be a slave to it.
(Please freely print, copy, translate and post this message in every place that you think will reach your audience before the next time you have an election in your vicinity.)
email your comments to the Honorary Editor
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Letters to the Editor
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 12:26:00 +0000From: Name withheld by Honorary Editor as a tribute to Johan Helsingius of the late anon.pet.fi fame
Subjects:
What is in a name?
Is Finland a part of Europe?
Other matters...Dear Editor,
What is in a name?
The purpose of this message is not to bore you with chit-chat about my new office or the potential imbecility of my immediate neighbours, busy fashioning the minds of tomorrow's media-makers (Ed: We are always interested in human life as it is!!). No, it is to bring to your attention to what I consider to be a monstrous outrage.
Sometime last autumn I moved into a flat and found I needed a washing machine. By chance, I was leafing through a Hobby Hall (Ed: This is one of Finland's leading Mail Order companies) catalogue one afternoon. I found a suitable sized machine. So I sent off for it.
After a week or so a letter arrived informing me that Hobby Hall was not prepared to send me the product. Mystified, I asked a colleague to phone up (I speak Swedish not Finnish and I decided it would be easier to do all this in Finnish). My friend was told that Hobby Hall had a policy of not selling goods to foreign nationals.
I was apoplectic, but my colleague viewed things through a very blinkered prism and felt it was quite 'natural' - You are not a Finn.
Livid, I asked my ex-wife to help out. She called Hobby Hall. This time she explained patiently that her husband worked for the government as a civil servant, etc, etc. The woman at the end rudely interrupted and asked "But how do we know he is not some Somali!?"
Shameless racism of the most primitive kind!
She then demanded my social-security number and triumphantly announced "He is not registered with the police at that address." (Ed:Just remember we are living in a Police State - our homes are our cells watched over by the Finnish Police.)
When it was explained that I had only just moved there, the answer was blunt, "We are a Finnish company and we do not sell to non-Finns, end of the matter!"
This whole incident outraged me, as you can imagine, as it must be in flagrant breach of EU trading laws and possibly Council of Europe edicts.
Considering I am a Finnish civil-servant, EU citizen, tax-payer and permanent resident it is an iniquity. Such an attitude is based not on one's ability to pay but simply on race.
This business left a bitter taste I can tell you, but it has been recently revived!
It is not just non-Finnish nationals that Hobby Hall insults, but Finns with non-Finnish sounding names as well!
The other day I was chatting with an ex-student of mine who now works in Vaasa (Ed: This is one of the towns in Finland which has a large Swedish-speaking Finnish population). This woman has an Italian father and a Finnish mother and was born in Vaasa (she actually knows very little Italian) but both her Christian name AND surname are unmistakably Italian.
She had applied for something and got back the same letter that I had. Likewise, she phoned up to ask and received fairly similar treatment.
The saleswoman told her it was a new policy of the company as they had had a lot of "trouble" with foreigners. (somebody probably had the insolence to ask for a refund or something...)
My friend was furious at this racism and at being discriminated against in her own country. The Hobby Hall woman appeared to relent somewhat by saying "Well, as you seem to speak quite intelligible Finnish we might be prepared to consider you."
By this time my friend had long since lost her temper and desire for anything from Hobby Hall, still less these insulting concessions.
But here we are in a recession with this indefensible madness going on, and seemingly in secret!
What journalist of the docile consensus type would expose this scandalous case? But it is an iniquity that offends not only me but many Finns too, for when is a Finn not a Finn? and when is a Finnish civil-servant not a civil-servant?
I have decided to apply again for a washing machine to test their latest reaction. Perhaps they will send the police around to arrest me for endangering consensus.
I will keep you informed, but this case could do with some ventilation frankly.
Is Finland really a part of Europe?
There is also something else that has offended me. It seems that Finnish hotels and Conference Centres are way behind the times with regard to the free movement of EU nationals within member states.
I was attending a conference at Hanasaari Cultural Centre in Espoo (Ed: This is an adjoining town to the Finnish capital, Helsinki) this April and witnessed some intolerable behaviour on the part of check-in staff.
I was waiting in the lobby for a friend when a number of delegates from Britain appeared. The girl at the desk very rudely demanded that they hand over their passports and fill in forms stating when they will leave Finland. Naturally these people were shocked at this demand, some did not have their passports, etc. They were told it was against the law to stay! (They had all made the mistake of paying beforehand..)
I interjected and pointed out that she cannot demand passports from fellow EU citizens. She was rather taken aback by my ferocity, but then started whining on about it is a Finnish police rule (Ed: Let me repeat, we are living in a Police State) that all foreigners must hand over passports and fill in forms.
The compromise was that they filled in the form, but retained their passports.
What next? A visa to visit Helsinki from Espoo? Not an impressive sight for these UK visitors innocently attending a British Council Conference!
This was in stark contrast to a hotel I stayed in Tampere where no such rude questions or ludicrous demands were made. Perhaps in Hanasaari they still believe Kekkonen to be immortal?
Other Matters
I look forward to the next Briefings. Do keep up the satirical blast on politicians. Some of those up for the Trans Europe Gravy Express (many of whom denounced the EU but are now scrambling indecently to enlarge their waistlines in Brussel's restaurants!) namely the Euro MPs could be looked into as well.
Oddly enough I was giving a lecture the other day on the Cold War and I found myself musing about Clinton's real intent in Iraq. Much of what I argued, about hypocrisy being dressed up in Realpolitik clothes and the untrustworthy double standards was similar to your overview of the Indian position on non-alignment. I do not think the students were terribly interested though.
Best wishes to you,
A Finnish Civil Servant/A regular Findians Briefings reader
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Date: Thu, 03 Oct 1996 23:13:53 -0700
From: Mark Hartman
Subject: Abuse of power by US Government
Dear Editor
I am overjoyed to read your criticisms (Ed: Hi Mark - Was the article Unique Overview of the CTBT Debacle (FB 25th August 1996) or Indian CTBT Stand Fully Vindicated (FB 6th September 1996)) of the actions of Mr. Clinton's Administration here in the USA.
Many here in the USA do not realize (and, of course, it is not in Mr.Clinton's interest to point out) that the Gulf Allies/UN forces had no authorization from the UN to proceed any further during the Gulf War than they actually did. Those here who condone and encourage the unsanctioned and dangerous military operations in Iraq tend to loudly proclaim that we "shoulda gone alldaway to Bag-dad" (in an accent that even to American ears makes it clear that many areas of this country abandoned "English" long ago), and justify in their own minds the current activity with this "fact".
I think that there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the USA has, by and large, been a force for peace and human rights in the world (Ed: I would like to agree and will, except in cases where I must disagree - e.g. longtime US support for the army regime in Pakistan vis-a-vis democracy in India, US support in the Afghanistan area which has led to the Taliban, US support for Boris Yeltsin, etc., etc..). It is sadly clear, however, that politicians, especially those for whom personal accountability is a closed book, will be politicians, and that the rest of the world would be well-advised to stock up on salt; you'll be needing to take a lot of it in the upcoming weeks, what with the political season in the USA swinging into high gear.
Regards
Mark Hartman
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Date: 4 Oct 96 13:13:21 +0000
Subject: Re: Year 2000 Problem
From: "Lawson English"
- *David Simerly said:
I received the following response to my "Mac in 2008" message from a fellow who's having problems posting to Carpe Diem. Thought you all might be interested in his article (FB 8th September 1996).*
Until a friend of mine asked about the possibility of Russian and US missile silos with computerized armegeddon fail-safes that might suddenly kick in on Jan 1, 2000 when the computers realize that they haven't recieved an "all is well" message in 99 years.
I suddenly stopped laughing and started feeling *very* nervous. I am *reasonably* confident that the US military is aware of and is working on the problem.
But the Soviets? The Chinese? Other 3rd World countries with nuclear weapons?
What happens next?
Like, ick.
Lawson English
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that Macs work better than PCs... But you'd be a fool not to follow their lead." -Sanjay S Vakil, graduate student, MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Dept. - 100% Mac
with thanks to "communication briefings"
-
In the May 1996 "Question of the Month" we asked you what qualities make a good leader. You said good leaders:
- Have integrity and respect.
They are honest with self and staff and respect different opinions. Leaders can deal with people of various backgrounds and support colleagues. They honour people when honour is due.
- Make sure they are understood.
They give definite guidelines and deadlines and they do not assume.
- Develop effective listening skills.
Leaders always make sure they fully understand what the speaker is saying. And they repeat the information if necessary. Example: A leader would say to the speaker, "To sum up the situation, you intend to finish this project no later than next Friday, correct?"
- Take risks and look towards the future.
- Have high standards of performance for
themselves and their colleagues.
- Take the lead in evaluating situations
to offer guidance, constructive input and encouragement.
- Stick by their decisions - but also admit
their mistakes.
- Have a good understanding of their
weaknesses and accept them without being
defensive. Good leaders will work through their
weaknesses and play on their strengths.
- Have a sense of humour. Also:
They smile. This helps people relax and feel
comfortable in their presence.
- Have integrity and respect.
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HOT NEWS ITEMS OF THE LAST FORTNIGHT
World Bank/IMF Sanctimoniousness
Dateline: 4th October 1996- Why have they been supporting these corrupt leaders in the past?
- Was somebody asking them to support those countries in the past which had these corrupt leaders?
- What mechanisms have they now in place which will discriminate better than what they had in the past that a particular country is now not corrupt?
It was strange to hear the World Bank President, ably echoed by his IMF counterpart, telling the media that Third World Countries which follow corrupt practices would not anymore get the support of these two august bodies.The questions to ask are
Surely the move by the US to do the same with the UN by opposing the re-election of Butros Butros Gali for his second term as UN Secretary General is also to have that organisation become the vassal of the US in the present New World Order.
The meaning of corruption does not make much sense - does it, dear Presidents?
Wake up - World Bank and IMF - there is no use trying to tell the world you have changed one bit as all you do is be at the beck and call of your master. You are just the whippersnappers. That is, in itself, a corrupt practice.
Why do you not give up this sanctimoniuos stand and say that you will give your financial support to the yes-men of your paymasters, and that it is immaterial whether they are corrupt or not! Life will go on as yesterday and today.
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Chinese Checkers for Microsoft
Dateline: 3rd October 1996Following hot on the heels of the Mexican boob (MICROSOFT to withdraw their RACIST, SEXIST dictionary) - Microsoft has blitheringly blundered again, this time in China. They supplied their Windows 95 package (at the end of 96 - wonder where is Windows 96 as 97 approaches?) to the mainland Chinese market. If the program was started there would be a couple of messages that flashed randomly onto the screen which criticised Communist China and proclaimed independence for Taiwan.
Microsoft is not too worried as they know that there could not have been many who managed to get Windows 95 up and running in mainland China!
Anyway, rumour has it that Bill Gates, who has increased his fortune during the last year from US$11 billion to US$18 billion by taking the loot from some suckers (Ed: We are a Microsoft free company), is offering to replace all these copies through a free download through Internet.
Considering that the Chinese won't have their computers working for a long while if they are dependent on running Windows 95 (they will be busy changing this INI and that INI), the chances of them getting on to the internet to do a download is remote.
Bill sure is a crafty one! He does not have to even bother to put up a corrected version as there will be no one who can download the corrected version if they are dependent on the barred Windows (sorry ste(e)ly Gates) to the world.
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Brain Drain From Oulu Stalag
Dateline: 3rd October 1996There was an interesting report in the local Oulu newspaper about the brain drain from Oulu University. A leading professor in biotechnology had left awhile back and joined the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He came back to also take some of his former researchers there.
Another (patriotic) Finnish Associate Professor is on his way to Uppsala University in Sweden. A third unnamed professor is claimed to be planning to move.
The reaction of the Oulu University Rector, Lauri Lajunen, was interesting. He claimed his university had no way to stop this trend. He was also unable to tempt top foreign professors and researchers as, he said "There are no facilities for the wives of those who come to find employment, and there are no facilities for their children."
What a shocking indictment by Rector Lajunen of the state of affairs of a city which claims to be the High Technology Centre of Europe!!
What Rector Lajunen did not say was that what he and his cronies in the university really want were cheap brains from third world countries - as China, India, Bangla Desh, Jaimaica, Hungary, Poland, Yugoslavia, who can be made to work like slaves and the fruits of their work can be stolen for themselves. Rector Lajunen has openly said that this is Finnish culture!!
No self-respecting research worker or professor would come and work in Oulu University (unless there are unavoidable mitigating circumstances), a university run by a bunch of professors who specialise in Scientific Fraud and Theft on a Grand Scale.
Just for the record, BBC World Service published our email on its programme Write On on Sunday 29th September 1996 which clarified that "there is no mechanism in place for detecting or tackling scientific fraud in Finland", as had been reported earlier in their programme on this subject on World Today
Thank you BBC for putting the record straight. Rector Lajunen and the local newspaper, Kaleva, which produces a lot of coloured toilet paper, must be very unhappy to note that BBC is not Finlandised!
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Cosmo Film Big Bang
Dateline: 3rd October 1996It was interesting to read last week that Indian Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) film producer, Cosmo Films, is increasing its capacity from 11800 tonnes to 31800 tonnes per annum over the coming two years, making it a globally competitive production unit. Cosmo Films presently operates two plants in the Indian State of Maharashtra, at Waluj and Chikalthana, and the expansion is also likely to be in the same state.
The reason for our interest in this item was that this manufacturing licence, when originally issued, was at, our instance, taken by a schoolmate, who then made an agreement with another industrial organisation to proceed with the project as he was busy with another project in Delhi. The original technoeconomic feasibility study for this unit was prepared by us in 1976 - justifying the establishment of an 800 tonne unit.
It is nice to see an idea and personal creation grow and become a exploding flower in this universe.
- Well done Cosmo.
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IDBI - NIB's US$50m Line of Credit
Dateline: 2nd October 1996Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), which is a multi-lateral agency established by the Nordic countries, has signed an agreement with the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) to offer a letter of credit to the tune of US$50 million for financing projects by Indian companies with Nordic interests. The money could be for equity participation or technology transfer and will cover project related rupee expenditure as well as finance the import of capital goods. The line of credit is not tied, and the maturity is 13 years with a 3 year moratorium. The main focus will be for paper and telecommunication companies involving Nordic companies.
We must repeat our serious warning to Indian industrialists that they should only accept that technology which ensures job creation, and not like most Nordic technology, job reduction.
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Stockmarket Analysis
Dateline: 6th October 1996(Before you decide on your next computer purchase visit our page David vs Goliath)
- Apple's Efforts in India
From the MacEvangelist Guy Kawasaki's MacWay Digest
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 16:24:21 -0400
From: MacWay@aol.com
Subject: Apple in IndiaThis tidbit is from:
david.king@hcl.com (David C King)
There's an interesting story about Apple's efforts in India at: http://199.165.129.203/270996/feat1.htm "If Macintosh has established a reputation for itself as one of the most user-friendly computers in the world, it's because of Apple's emphasis on design. Not surprising then, that Apple Computers Inc's first major collaboration with an educational institution in India should be with the National Institute of Design (NID).
Ever since the company donated 16 PowerMacs to create an Apple Academy at the institute five years ago, the Mac has been the computer of choice for young designers at NID. And this year, the Ahmedabad-based institute was one of ten design schools selected worldwide to participate in the Apple Design Project '96 at Cupertino, California."
Do you believe in Macintosh? Please check out http://www.evangelist.macaddict.com/ and join the EvangeList mailing list by sending an email to evangelist@macway.com.
- Good Apple - Leader in Creative Industry
Segments:
Here are some interesting aspects (gleaned from various sources, but summarised primarily from Guy Kawasaki, the Apple Evangelist's Digests about the role Apple Computers Inc. in many creative industry segments.
Many of you may not have known that:
- 62% of all CD-ROM authoring is done using the Macintosh - Dataquest, 1995;
- 60% of all digital music is created on the
Macintosh - Pipper Jaffray, 1995/b>;
- 45 - 50% of all digital video creation is done on the Macintosh - AV/DV Videography magazine reader survey, 1995;
- 41% of all web content authoring is done using the Macintosh - MARI, 1995;
- 30% of all film and video post production work is done on the Macintosh - Phillips Business Information, Film & Video Survey, 1995;
- 20% of the web servers in use today are Macintosh computers - Georgia Institute of Technology, 1995
Pretty impressive for a company which has been dying for a decade or more according to the PC media. A lot more of the PC media are going to die before Apple withers!!
- Smelly AST - Fishy Stink Reaches Across the Atlantic
What is more interesting are the events of June and July 1996. The share value of AST Research had collapsed as far back as May 1996, hitting a low of around US$4.Last week we reported some interesting dates and events about Samsung and AST Research Inc.. We discovered some more items from their skeleton cupboard.
To recap, here were the ones we highlighted in our last issue:
November 2nd 1995: Ian Diery, formerly of Apple Computer Inc. takes over as CEO and President of AST Research Inc.
May 2nd 1996: Joseph E. Norberg takes over as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AST Research Inc.
June 24th 1996: AST Chairman Safi Quereshy is kicked upstairs as Chairman Emeritus and Kwang Ho-Kim of Samsung takes over as Chairman of AST Research July 30th 1996: AST Research announces its fourth quarter of loses totalling another almost US$100 million.
August 2nd 1996: Ian Diery quits as President and CEO of AST Research and is replaced by Samsung nominee Young-Soo Kim.
August 27th 1996: Samsung Chairman Mr. Lee Kun-hee is convicted by Korean Supreme Court on bribery and corruption at the same time as the death sentence is passed on former President of South Korea Chun Doo-hwan and the life sentence on the other former President Mr. Roh Tae-woo.
September 6th 1996: Joseph E. Norberg quits as VP and Chief Financial Officer of AST Research and is replaced by Samsung nominee, Wang Suk Yang.
September 18th 1996: Dr. Noh Byung Park, Vice President and General Manager of Samsung takes over as Senior Vice President of AST Research in a desperate attempt to try and put some life into this dying company.
Now for one resignation we missed: 31st of July 1996: Another Director by the name of Carmelo J Santero of AST Research Inc. resigned.
AST Research was required to meet a promissory note of value of US$90 million to Tandy on 12th July 1996. It defaulted which was expected - read below:
- "We hereby certify that AST Research,
Inc., has defaulted under the terms of the
Promissory Note dated July 12, 1993 between
Tandy Corporation and AST Research, Inc. and
Tandy Corporation has exercised the right of
Acceleration pursuant to Section 8 of the
Promissory Note."
The losses in the company were mounting, and the next quarter loss was known in the market to be significantly greater that the previous quarter, touching an anticipated US$100 million. AST Research had no way to meet its committment on the promissory note.
Inventory had built up even as AST slashed its prices as no one wanted the rubbish that AST calls its computers.
Further, considering that AST Research Inc. is facing enormous losses by way of law suits filed against it for causing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Repetitive Stress Damage (anticipated losses here would exceed US$100 million) and several law suits in the US for Deceptive Advertising and Unlawful Business Practices (it is strange to know that Findians is not the only one who has beendefrauded by AST Research Inc. not only by Deceptive Advertising) no one in his right senses would have given a cent fr AST shares in the months of June and July 1996.
Strangely, at the beginning of June 1996, every day, about 500 shares began to be traded at an artificially high price of around US$7 on the NASD excahnge.
I was perplexed as no sane individual would have paid such a value for an AST share, i.e. almost a 100% higher value than on the exchange.
It was only a few days ago, when I looked through the filings made by AST Research Inc. and Samsung, the reason for this insider trading came to light. AST Research had made an agreement with Samsung that the promissory note would be met by making a share offering to Samsung, the price of the shares being the average of the closing value of 20 previous days to the date of the agreement..
To check this out have a look at this:
- Apple's Efforts in India
From the MacEvangelist Guy Kawasaki's MacWay Digest
CUSIP NO. 001907104 SCHEDULE 13D PAGE 2 OF 5 PAGES
ITEM 5. INTEREST IN SECURITIES OF THE ISSUER.
Pursuant to the terms of the Letter of Credit Agreement dated as of July 31, 1995 between Samsung and the Company (the "Agreement"), on July 11, 1996 Samsung advanced to the Company $60 million for the purpose of partially repaying a $90 million promissory note (the "Tandy Note") due to Tandy Corporation ("Tandy") related to the 1993 acquisition by the Company of Tandy's personal computer manufacturing operations. Under the terms of the Agreement, Samsung has elected to receive shares of the Company's Common Stock in full repayment of the $60 million advance. Accordingly, on July 11, 1996, the Company issued to Samsung 8,499,336 additional shares of Common Stock at a per share price of $7.06 (the average per share closing price of the Common Stock for the 20 consecutive trading days ending July 10, 1996). As a result of such issuance, and the issuance to Tandy by the Company of 4,498,594 shares of Common Stock in repayment of the remaining $30 million balance of the Tandy Note, Samsung beneficially owns 30,789,336 shares of Common Stock, or 49.5% of the outstanding shares.
-
It was obvious that someone in the know of this
agreement and its clauses had been trading a small
sum of shares at an inflated price for a period just
so that Samsung would have to pay out almost US$60
million for stock which was hardly worth $34 million
and Tandy, who were also to be given stock at this
value, would be defrauded by about US$13 million on
the US$30 million which it had agreed to be paid in
the form of AST stock.
Can AST Research kindly provide a list of the transactions of stock transfers between the end of April and the middle of June so that we can pinpoint who was buying and selling these stock.
For confirmation of our suspicions surf along to the stockmaster page for AST and have a look at the price and volume of stock traded between mid May and mid July 1996 and the price before and after these CRUCIAL dates. If this Is not a case of insider price fixing, well then..."
No wonder the three top directors - Director Santero, President and CEO Diery and the Chief Financial Officer Norberg resigned IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS EVENT. They obviously preferred to have clean hands rather than get their names tarnished by association in these underhand dealings.
Was Samsung a party to this deal? Most probably as they were working to take over this company - which they now have.
Was Tandy in the know that they were being done? Maybe not, as they were defraded to the tune of US$13 milion. Interesting questions. I think we know the answers. So watch out for the next installment of this sage of a Fortune 500 company which has FRAUD written across its forehead in BLOCK CAPITALS!!
I think we can disregard the Stock values of AST in the table below as they are obviously manipulating the stock themselves to give an impression of recovery. Remember, of course, that the decline from the high of last year of US$20+ down to its value of US$4, which shows that most of the public stockholders have discarded their stock holding.
Stock Market Analysis Company High Low Present Variation from High Variation from Low Dell (NASD) 87.50 23.00 84.88 3.00 (-) 269.02(+) Gateway 2000 (NASD) 50.12 16.00 47.44 5.35 (-) 196.48 (+) Zenith (NYSE) 26.00 5.87 15.00 42.31 (-) 155.54 (+) Sun Micro (NASD) 67.12 26.37 63.38 5.58 (-) 140.33 (+) Intel (NASD) 101.75 49.81 101.68 0.07 (-) 104.33 (+) Compaq (NYSE) 66.38 35.87 66.38 0.01 (-) 85.04(+) Micron Tech (NYSE) 78.12 16.62 29.75 61.92 (-) 70.00 (+) Microsoft (NASD) 138.62 79.87 138.38 0.18 (-) 73.25 (+) IBM (NYSE) 128.87 83.12 126.63 1.74 (-) 52.34 (+) Ericsson (NASD) 25.88 17.37 25.88 0.02 (-) 48.96 (+) Netscape (NASD) 87.00 28.00 41.38 52.44 (-) 47.77 (+) Nokia (NYSE) 70.25 31.12 45.00 35.94 (-) 44.60 (+) Apple (NASD) 42.50 16.00 22.81 46.32 (-) 42.58(+) Texas (NYSE) 79.62 40.50 52.25 34.38 (-) 29.01 (+) AST (NASD) 10.25 4.00 5.00 51.22 (-) 25.00 (+) Applied Mat. (NASD) 55.50 21.75 26.63 52.03 (-) 22.41 (+) Hewlett Packard (NYSE) 57.75 36.87 43.63 24.46 (-) 18.32 (+) DEC (NYSE) 76.50 30.50 34.625 54.74 (-) 13.52 (+) Motorola (NYSE) 77.00 44.75 48.25 37.34 (-) 7.87 (+) Acer NA NA NA NA NA Packard Bell NA NA NA NA NA
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