{"id":930,"date":"2025-05-31T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/?p=930"},"modified":"2025-06-03T00:30:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T00:30:56","slug":"south-african-firms-suspect-uae-companies-may-have-obtained-military-intellectual-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/31\/south-african-firms-suspect-uae-companies-may-have-obtained-military-intellectual-property\/","title":{"rendered":"South African firms suspect UAE companies may have obtained military intellectual property"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defence company Paramount Group<\/a> has provided information to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which is investigating claims that companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) unlawfully obtained intellectual property developed by South Africa\u2019s arms industry.<\/p>\n

The investigation focuses on employees of at least two defence firms who are suspected of passing military intellectual property (IP) to UAE state-owned companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cParamount Group is cooperating fully with the Special Investigations Unit<\/a> (SIU) in its investigation into wrongdoing by UAE government-controlled entities, particularly as it relates to the unlawful targeting of South African defence intellectual property,\u201d Lynn Lauth, a lawyer for Paramount, told the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists.<\/p>\n

The OCCRP obtained two briefings from the SIU, which focus mainly on allegations that employees of a second company, Denel<\/a> SOC Ltd, \u201cmisappropriated\u201d the research and design that underlines arms production.<\/p>\n

One of the documents obtained by the OCCRP was a 2023 presentation to parliament\u2019s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa), while the other was a PowerPoint briefing of the SIU\u2019s findings in 2025. <\/p>\n

The SIU declined to answer detailed questions about its investigation, saying that it \u201creports only to the president and parliament\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, we cannot make public statements or give comments on ongoing investigations,\u201d a spokesperson added in an email. \u201cHowever, it is important to note that evidence indicating criminal conduct has been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paramount has also launched its own internal investigation to determine whether employees provided intellectual property to a UAE company after a joint venture deal that eventually collapsed.<\/p>\n

\u2018Pattern of misconduct\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Founded in South Africa in the early 1990s, Paramount is now headquartered in the UAE. The company filed for bankruptcy last year after losing an arbitration case in London against Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments Company (Adasi).<\/p>\n

Paramount\u2019s problems began in 2016 when one of its subsidiaries, Riverston Enterprises Limited, entered into a joint venture deal with Adasi. <\/p>\n

The joint venture fell apart after Adasi was taken over by another UAE state-owned firm called Edge Group, according to internal records and court documents obtained by the OCCRP.<\/p>\n

As part of the agreement to set up the joint venture, Adasi had provided Paramount with a loan of $150\u2009\u2009million, an internal document from Edge shows. That money was meant to cover the costs of creating the joint venture company in the UAE, and transferring the intellectual property behind Paramount\u2019s reconnaissance plane, which the new company would transform into an armed strike aircraft called the MWARI. <\/p>\n

Both Adasi and Paramount agree that the intellectual property was never transferred to the UAE as planned. Now Paramount says it is no longer legally obligated to transfer the intellectual property, but Adasi says it has the rights to the information under the arbitration ruling. <\/p>\n

Neither the Edge Group, which owns Adasi, nor its public relations representatives responded to requests for comment. But a legal document filed by Adasi in Paramount\u2019s bankruptcy case provides insight into its position.<\/p>\n

In the legal filing, Adasi argued that Paramount\u2019s bankruptcy case was a stall tactic meant to give the company time to move its assets so they could not be transferred. Those included the \u201cpotentially valuable intellectual property assets\u201d, which had been \u201cgranted to Adasi\u201d.<\/p>\n

The filing states that Paramount said it declared bankruptcy because it could not afford to pay the penalty ordered by the arbitration board. That penalty totalled $230\u2009\u2009million, and included the $150\u2009\u2009million that was to cover the transfer of intellectual property for its aircraft to the UAE.<\/p>\n

Paramount\u2019s South African lawyer, Lauth, told the OCCRP that the intellectual property of the MWARI aircraft \u201cremains wholly governed by South African law and has not been externalised to the UAE, Adasi, EDGE or any related entity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Intellectual property used exclusively for military purposes is often not patented, because doing so would make the designs accessible to competitors and hostile actors. Instead, such property is considered a \u201csovereign asset\u201d overseen by the government, according to experts including Vanessa du Toit who previously ran the National Conventional Arms Control Committee, which oversees South Africa\u2019s military technology and arms exports.<\/p>\n

Lauth said the research and design behind the MWARI was \u201cnot the only intellectual property that was allegedly targeted\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur clients have identified a broader pattern of misconduct involving multiple Paramount-developed platforms,\u201d she told the OCCRP.<\/p>\n

In a leaked document from the arbitration case, Paramount founder Ivor Ichikowitz said the deal was based on Adasi ordering 5\u2009\u2009000 armoured vehicles, and 6\u2009\u2009000 \u201cloitering munitions\u201d, which are drones built to explode on impact. In the end, only four trucks and 500 drones were ordered by the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn hindsight, it now appears that the presentations and solutions we presented may have been used by \u2026 staff to benchmark other defence projects underway at the time in other organisations in the UAE,\u201d Ichikowitz said, according to a leaked affidavit from the arbitration case.<\/p>\n

Ichikowitz declined to provide comment to reporters. <\/p>\n

Martie Baumgardt, a senior executive, told the OCCRP the firm is also carrying out its own internal investigation. She said the company is looking into the \u201cpossible theft of IP from Paramount by individuals who left the company, which may conceivably have ended up in the UAE\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to Baumgardt, after the joint venture with the UAE partner broke down, 45 Paramount employees joined Edge Group companies. <\/p>\n

A leaked document from Paramount\u2019s internal investigation also alleges that 57 laptops and 10 hard drives were stolen from 2016 \u2014 the year Paramount\u2019s subsidiary entered the joint venture with Adasi \u2014 to 2024, when it lost the arbitration case.<\/p>\n

The Denel affair<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the Denel case dates back to 2012, when South Africa\u2019s state-owned arms manufacturer entered into a joint venture with a UAE firm, then known as Tawazun Operation Company LLC. Under the agreement, the two firms established a new company based in the UAE called Tawazun Dynamics LLC. <\/p>\n

According to the 2023 briefing to Scopa, the joint venture was initially intended to manufacture and supply Denel missiles to the UAE Air Force, and \u201cfuture customers\u201d. <\/p>\n

At first, the partnership appeared to be a success. Other deals were soon struck, in which Denel would also provide a UAE defence company called NIMR Automotive LLC with RG35 Military Vehicle IP and hardware.<\/p>\n

But the relationship began to sour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is alleged that the IP belonging to the institution was misappropriated in cohesive criminal conduct to abet foreign state companies,\u201d the SIU said in its 2023 briefing, referring to allegations brought by Denel.<\/p>\n

In its investigation, the SIU found evidence suggesting that Denel employees may have accessed intellectual property without permission. <\/p>\n

In one instance, SIU investigators found that \u201cdata packs\u201d relating to missile technology had been downloaded from Denel\u2019s system after a request from Halcon, another arms company owned by Edge Group, according to the 2023 briefing.<\/p>\n

That briefing also outlines a case reported by Denel to the SIU, which involved intellectual property for a military vehicle. The SIU noted that contracts had been signed with NIMR by a Denel employee who was not authorised to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis official later resigned and informed Denel that he was offered a senior position by NIMR,\u201d the briefing says. <\/p>\n

Denel reported that it had later received a letter from the chief executive of NIMR, who had previously worked for Denel, demanding intellectual property for a military vehicle. <\/p>\n

The joint venture company Tawazun Dynamics is today called Al Tariq and \u2014 like NIMR \u2014 it is owned by Edge Group, which did not respond to questions about alleged attempts to transfer intellectual property from Denel.<\/p>\n

The NIMR chief executive was one of more than 300 Denel staff who left the company and went to work in the UAE\u2019s arms sector, according to a summary of a South African parliamentary discussion in February.<\/p>\n

Gloria Serobe, chair of the Denel board, told the parliamentary committee that so many Denel employees had left for UAE firms that \u201cboard meetings were done in Afrikaans\u201d. <\/p>\n

This story was first published by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defence company Paramount Group has provided information to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which is investigating claims that companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) unlawfully obtained intellectual property developed by South Africa\u2019s arms industry. The investigation focuses on employees of at least two defence firms who are suspected of passing military intellectual property (IP) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=930"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":931,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions\/931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}