How to get rid of an unwanted foreign business partner

Frank Richardson, Norwich, UK

Opportunities for creativity abound where the rule of law is weak because of corruption and incompetence. In those developing countries where this is the case there is, in particular, much scope for inventive methods of removing a foreign business partner. There is little need to adopt the more usual and rather expensive way of parting company with him, namely, buying him out.

Once a foreign business partner has worked hard using his money and expertise to create a successful and profitable business for you, you may well have the opportunity to remove him by, for instance, having him jailed on trumped up charges and, if that does not distance him and deprive him of his rights sufficiently, to engineer a work permit infringement and have him deported.

By liberally greasing a few palms here and there and having the right connections, you may, though, be able to immediately deport your partner without ado so that you will be able to directly enjoy all the fruits of his efforts.

Some police officers can be quite obliging and, to ensure he has no advance warning, will be prepared to bend legal procedures in order to arrest rather than summon your partner. You will, though, need to go to the police with some kind of false allegation, as this will facilitate your partner's deportation.

Assault is a particularly good false charge to level against a white person, as it will arouse, to your advantage, the emotive specter of imperialist bullying. However, beware, as there could be a snag -- the police will need your partner's passport to deport and, if he does not surrender it, you will need to have another ploy up your sleeve.

If deportation does fail at this stage, jailing him is the next-best recommended move and you will need some form of evidence. It is likely, though, to be totally unnecessary for your evidence to be consistent. For instance, if you allege your business partner assaulted you, you do not have to ensure the hospital report detailing your injuries conforms to your version of how you were assaulted.

So, for example, if you allege that you were viciously kicked, punched and beaten, a few minor self-inflicted bruises detailed in a hospital report will suffice to prove your case. Indeed, if you allege you were punched in the face, an injury to your foot would corroborate your story perfectly.

Further, do not worry if, in the expectation that your plan for immediate deportation would work, you failed to obtain a hospital report directly after the time you set for the alleged assault.

You will be able to submit a hospital report a week or even two weeks later if necessary, which should give you plenty of time to self-inflict some minor injuries and/or to arrange the necessary signatures, forged or otherwise, on the document.

Be assured that once your partner has been jailed he is likely to be kept very conveniently out of circulation for months on the basis of what, to be honest, can be really rather laughable and facile evidence -- but ours is not to judge!

The great advantage is that, once your partner has been jailed on remand, practically all rights will probably be denied him for a time and his contact with your business immediately severed. While he languishes in a dank, grimy, squalid limbo in prison, you can, with suitably distributed incentives, take over the business's bank account and commence a civil action to have him removed from your business altogether under almost any pretext you like. Here, again, creativity is the key.

However, if you manage to complement a trumped up charge with a work permit infringement that you have engineered and leads to deportation, you will be able to instigate civil proceedings to remove him from your business without his knowledge, thus avoiding the dreadful inconvenience of a defense being lodged.

Again, you do not have to be at all clever to do this. It really is quite easy, especially since expatriates from countries where the rule of law applies can be very fair-minded and unsuspecting.

What you do is ensure your foreign business partner exceeds the ambit of his work permit. If, for example, yours is an architectural firm you would arrange for him to be issued with a work permit solely for an architect, while gratefully encouraging and entrusting him to work hard at managing and developing your entire business.

Then, when he has served you well by dedicatedly investing much effort, time and money in your business, you report him to the immigration authorities for acting ultra vires. Fortuitously, it is not likely to matter a lot to the authorities that it was actually you who arranged an inappropriate work permit for him. You are unlikely to be seen as in any way culpable, but you are very likely to achieve your aim of having him deported out of your harm's way.

If, though, he is able to negotiate the veritable minefield of engaging a good lawyer and assiduously defends your legal actions against him in the courts, again, do not worry. Even if he is represented by a lawyer of good repute, the process of appeals is likely to take ages and during this time you are in charge and can do whatever you like with the business, rewarding yourself for your ingenuity as you wish.

The absence of competent management may well mean you must, though, skillfully milk the profits while they last so that, if your partner does have some success in defending the legal suits you commenced against him, he will see that there will be little or nothing worth taking back and salvaging and that real redress is almost impossible.

There are those who will criticize such tactics, saying that they discourage investment that leads to job creation and improved living standards for the ordinary people in countries that desperately need such progress. Do not be influenced by such opinions. Do not even trouble your conscience. Bear in mind they do not take into account your needs and that the country is yours and not your foreign partner's.

The writer is a lawyer.