The grandchildren of Mulji Prabhudas Madhvani alias Muljibhai Madhvani, the founding patriarch of the Madhvani Group of Companies are embroiled in a fight of a multi-billion estate.
The estate which is heavily involved in Uganda’s economy with interests in sugar production, power generation and production of ethanol and other industrial alcohols is worth USD200 million (approximately Shs 740 billion).
The group is also involved in the production of tea, steel, matches, sweets, confectionaries and packaging materials. It also has a leg in the tourism, construction, real estate, insurance and software production.
The eldest grandson, Nitin Jayant Madhvani, recently wrote separate letters to both the police and the head of State House’s Anti-corruption Unit, Lt Col Edith Nakalema, calling for an investigation into the activities of his sister, Nimisha Madhvani, Uganda’s Ambassador to Denmark.
The children of the late Jayant Muljibhai Madhvani – Mr Nitin, Ms Nimisha and Mr Amit Madhvani – own up to a fifth of the Madhvani Group’s assets in Uganda. The rest is owned by the families of Jayant’s four brothers – Manubhai Madhvani, Pratap Madhvani, Suresh Madhvani and Mayur Madhvani.
In a June 22 letter to Lt Col Nakalema, Mr Nitin accuses his sister of holding out as a director in the Madhvani Group of companies and abusing her power in order to gain control of his and the family’s assets.
“Nimisha Madhvani…has been abusing her position in government to threaten, intimidate and harass my family and staff in order to gain control over my home, assets and those of my family,” the letter reads in parts.
Nimisha is also accused of intimidating people in order to “gain control of her elderly and vulnerable mother’s wealth”, and both her brothers’ interests in their family business.
“She has taken advantage of her brother Amit (Madhvani’s) mental limitations and her mother’s (Ms Meenaben Madhvani’s) major cognitive impairments to control their affairs and property,” the letter reads in parts.
According to Daily Monitor newspaper, Neurological reports issued by Dr David Basangwa in Uganda and doctors Corole Kuhle and Christopher Klein of the Mayo Clinic in the United States indicate that Ms Meenaben suffers from dementia and Alzheirmer’ disease due to old age.
Mr Amit, on the other hand, suffers from limited mental abilities occasioned by reaction to a vaccine early in his childhood.
The ambassador is accused of obtaining signatures of her mother in order to facilitate her “agenda of gaining control of other family affairs and property”.
Nitin also accuse his sister of having opposed the family’s decision to take their mother to the Mayo Clinic in the United States for cancer treatment and neurological assessment.
“Nimisha opposed, possibly because she did not want a further official neurological diagnosis, which could be used to prevent Ms Meenaben Madhvani from signing documents that Nimisha presents to her,” Mr Nitin wrote.
However, according to our highly placed source in the family who preferred anonymity, Mr Nitin is the main cause of the fight and that he wants to fraudulently take over the family business.
The source told Watchdog Uganda, that Nitin together with his sons and wife have been harassing his mother Ms Meenaben to the extent of denying her access some parts of the family house.
“Nitin Madhvani is the thief who locked up his mother and sued her in india over their Tea Estate in south india
Even in Uganda Nitin, the wife and his sons harass the mother/grandmother. Can you imagine they lock her out of some areas of her husband’s house? If Nitin wants to be alone, he should build his own,” the source disclosed to this website.
“Nitin has failed in every business ventures he has engaged in. Nitin has gone mad and desperate and has destroyed whatever he could lay his hands on. He is bankrupt. Nimisha needs support to overcome his dirty tricks. Meenaben is helpless at her age and is widely abused by Nitin. He has threatened her life with overdose of medication.”
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