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BBSolar.ca : How Bergamo Failed to meet their end of the bargain and lied about EVERYTHING: Read on!
This is an objective, unbiased account of the last year for The Big Leaf and Rahi Tajzadeh. No NDA was ever signed by Rahi or Bergamo or any parties therein. All accounts can be backed with email and affidavits as needed.
Note that most emails will not be listed in this report…but I can safely say that none of the emails I received were sent confidentially…rather there were often stakeholders CC’d on emails.
I own The Big Leaf, a solar energy R&D company in Ontario Canada, which was focused on designing a proprietary solar generator (existing technology), and innovations in solar business modeling.
To pay for the bills at The Big Leaf I held a 9-5 job as an IT Technical Analyst, making a conservative $4,000 a month, and lived at home with mom and dad, while frequently visiting my girlfriend who lived 60km (30m) away.
A great friend of mine introduced me through his acquaintance to Sohail Parekh in Late Summer of 2011. In the first telephone conversation I was told that Bergamo is a $400 Million company that acquires existing businesses and finances their sales and operations as needed.
Sohail said that he needs a company that can sell solar energy equipment, systems, water pumps etc. in Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, and some African Countries.
I made it clear that The Big Leaf does NOT have experience in those countries but CAN design systems for use there, and is happy to work on building the necessary infrastructure to develop full sales and support in said regions...but that we would need funding, and Marketing in these regions, even as a Canadian company, is difficult and potentially expensive.
Sohail said that this is exactly what Bergamo does, they fund companies like ours, and that they have enough social and political ties in those regions that the sales will be basically set up ahead of time.
He asked me to give him details on water pumping solar systems and prices, and that he is interested in working with me exclusively…except for one other solar water pump company that is supplying them, owned by a guy named Steve. (I never found out what the company name was or who Steve was).
By July 22 of 2011 I had already sent my first email to Sohail asking for more details such as water requirements (litres per day, per hour, pump power [W or hp], well depth, etc.)
They replied promptly and answered my questions but it was clear that the answers were not given by engineers, rather business people, because the specifications seemed to change over time. (more on that later).
A few days later Sohail asked me to quote Solar Generators for home use, ranging from 10kW to 50kW, including maximum monthly supply available from suppliers, how many parts / complete systems can fit in a 40’ container etc. The email made it seem like large orders would be placed and that a JIT system or conservative sales estimates for market penetration and year over year growth were not being considered for whatever reason.
I offered an NDA to Bergamo but they claimed that we would sign their NDA in a telephone conversation (never happened), and sent the first of many proposals, quotes, presentations, etc. The proposal I sent was to fund The Big Leaf as a system provider to Pakistan, India, etc., as well as developing its own IP (the Clover…can’t say anything about this, sorry!).
The proposal was 17 pages considering I had less than a week to complete it, and they thanked me for the proposal but never spoke of it again.
A few days later I was asked to quote more systems, this time for buildings (apartment, business, etc.). Ranging from 5kW – 50kW. Again I replied with quotes.
Bergamo sent me a detailed email on: “The procedure of the Finance for Proposed Financing of The Big Leaf.”. In their own words. The email stated that:
***
I already had sent a proposal, and now they wanted a full business plan, which made sense to me, but the viability portion of the email had me concerned, and in telephone conversations Sohail told me that he can get us sales far beyond the $500M mentioned, and all we need to do is run the business while he accommodates sales.
I sent a detailed email indicating what technologies we work with, and why our IP is worth their investment, and that we are in the process of completing a short business plan (20-30 pages). By this time I was hard at work arranging suppliers and the business plan.
By August 15th we had sent a detailed quote on multiple systems to Bergamo.
***
I sent this email to Sohail:
Sohail,
I noticed that Bergamo is already offering solar pumps (some look like they are on a tracker) for about $3 / Watt installed.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/
If they are not connected to a solar tracker and do not have batteries then of course we can provide a system that does. But if this is your cost including a tracker then we must re-evaluate our quote, as we have been using average industry prices to be conservative (under promise and over perform).
If there is no tracker then we can be of assistance to provide systems with trackers and we can work together to attain the best PV panel cost which it looks as though you already are getting!
Furthermore I know of a manufacturer that may be able to beat almost any PV cost and still provide excellent warranty and performance and quality.
Let me know what you think…I am still preparing the summary business plan.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
By September 2nd we sent a 4 page detailed quote on 80 systems (PV and CPV) that we felt would do well in the markets mentioned above.
***
On September 7th another email came my way from Sohail, with a powerpoint of solar tube well systems with Bergamo’s name on the presentation, as though it was their systems…but the images were from online resources. The email asked me to make a comparison to these products and Sohail said in a telephone conversation that this was “Steve’s Company”.
Here is the email (note the misspelling of my name):
A further email indicated that my SUPPLIER is to bear the cost of a demo in Pakistan:
By September 6th a Presentation was also sent to Bergamo for The Big Leaf’s new venture with Bergamo.
By September 9th I had a presentation to match the one Sohail sent me on the water pumping systems from “Steve” with Bergamo written all over the presentation. It is safe to say that by this time I was spending any waking moment I had on this venture because I was led to believe that Bergamo is the real deal.
I spoke with Sohail and Hillard a few times in September where Hillard proceeded to yell at me and say my prices are too high…which didn’t make sense to me because the prices were industry average and included a 1 axis tracker and installation, which other quotes “Steve” did not have. Also the quotes I sent were about 15%-25% above what they wanted, which is exactly how much MORE ELECTRICITY is generated when you install a 1 axis tracker in Pakistan (exact numbers are 15%-18% but that depends on exact location).
Revised presentations were sent with updated prices.
I was sent an email with a sample Letter of Intent (note the spelling mistakes), which I did not agree to because of the contents. Here are some of the contents in the sample LOI which was sent with no NON DISCLOSURE clauses:
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Note that Bergamo wanted PROPRIETARY RIGHTS to the products which was completely unacceptable.
Furthermore let me make it clear that Sohail and Hillard told me that the role of having 2 companies go to demo in Pakistan (The Big Leaf and Steve’s company) was to instill a feeling of competition or at least to make it seem like multiple bids were being placed and that there was real competition, when in fact Bergamo wanted the profits (60% or more) from both companies. I felt very uneasy but was reassured that this is the way business with governments works.
Whenever I mentioned lawyers Sohail asked me to keep them out of things as it would be too expensive. On multiple telephone conversations this occurred, especially in relation to the LOI.
By October 2nd, I had not signed their LOI and they were pushing me with emails like the following:
***
Please note that the email states that “other” company is ready to demo in two weeks. Sohail pressured me to get a demo to Pakistan ASAP and sign the LOI.
I responded saying that I can present in Pakistan in Late November at the earliest, and that we cannot INSTALL the demo in Pakistan as we have no infrastructure there to do so, nor did we have a confirmed demo site.
By October 6th a pro forma income statement with viable sales figures was emailed to Sohail. He responded with an “OK”.
October 13th, Sohail sent me 6+ photos of supposed Bergamo officers with top government officials. Sohail, Hillard, and at least one recognizable government official are in one picture, with the rest being people I do not know. The email that the pictures came with had nothing written in it.
A phone call from Sohail followed where he indicated that the government officials are “My people, my friends from childhood…”, and that I was not to worry about getting any sales in Pakistan, India, etc., and that getting the sales is Bergamo’s job, while running the business was my job.
I received a pleasant letter to Bergamo from a minister in Pakistan indicating that he is very interested in seeing the demo in “Late November or earlier”, and that Bergamo has their support. This minister will not be named in this report, but I will call him John Doe.
Hillard sent me an email on October 22 with their competitors systems listed, most were made with Chinese components which are the most cost effective right now.
A new LOI was drafted and the suggestion of a new venture was made in an email by Sohail:
***
I was working with them on the LOI when this email arrived:
(more systems were listed in the email but this is a good sample).
***
By November 15th I was scheduled to fly to meet Hillard and Sohail in Nevada some time around my birthday (nov 22).
***
By this time we had a business plan, system quoting tools, suppliers set up, and staff ready to work.
Also by this time I was under the impression that a Late November trip was expected, even though I knew it was impossible without travel VISAs and other accommodations…so I suggested December.
Note that by this time I had already blocked off my vacation time from my 9-5 job because over multiple telephone conversations Sohail asked me to be ready to present in Late November.
Then I had to change that vacation time again to Late December, which Sohail agreed to over the phone.
Here is a sample of my emails to Sohail, to give you an idea of my mood:
Gentlemen,
Thank you for your ongoing support. I will reach an agreement with the **** brothers within a few days. In the meantime I am working on the solar generators you are asking for. I still require all the pertinent data for the attached visa application.
Sohail, can you provide me with a list of people and places I will present this generator to/in? I want to be prepared for these presentations so any important information is key. Also, I want to work together with BAC to share resources wherever possible (i.e. we need to outsource marketing rather than do it in house – including graphics, website, and videos). If you already have resources or contacts that would be ideal as it will help control costs.
I am putting together the team that will run BB Solar (Dir of Sales, Dir of Bus Development, CFO, etc.) and want to know how you wish me to set this up. Let’s discuss this further in emails.
We have much to do, and a great opportunity is ahead of us, let’s make the best of it!
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
So I went to Las Vegas, met Sohail and Hillard in Hillard’s house, and in his computer room we drafted the last copy of the LOI.
In that room I was told by Hillard that Bergamo owns many companies like GreenSafe Demanufacturing, and their core business is complementary acquisitions: he stated that Greensafe receives its raw materials for free via train, and on the return trip, the empty rail cars are filled with concrete which Bergamo’s subsidiary uses in New York to do road work. He made it sound very sophisticated and foolproof.
Hillard gave me a “portfolio” of companies that they claimed to own, including Greensafe, and asked me to “look through it” and see what they (Bergamo) really do. I did so and thanked them for showing me the “portfolio”.
I call it a “portfolio” because it was a seried of power point presentation slides with various company summaries, which were vague, far too short to mean anything, didn’t indicate any complementary business strategy, or even make me believe it was a real document at all…it seemed like random powerpoint slides…I did not take heed of that red flag.
Later on that same “portfolio” was emailed to me as Bergamo’s business plan, where I was to add BB Solar to the random group of slides. Where Dr. Ghaus’s airplane company also was added. (look up Dr. Ghaus if you want).
Sohail told me that Hillard really likes me and that this will be a great business relationship and that The Big Leaf / BB Solar will receive full funding.
Here is a nice email from Sohail after we signed an LOI in Nevada, in Hillards house, on my birthday (note the spelling mistakes):
A few days later I received a call from Sohail indicating Bergamo received $1B and that he wanted ME to contact my local news stations and newspapers to spread the news. I received this email:
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No details in the email other than the above link were present. No details were made clear to me about the origins, nature, or form of the $1B. I did not contact any news organizations as I felt the information was not credible.
***
By November 30th, Sohail was still not clear on what system and what prices he wanted in the demo, and I received this email:
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I asked Sohail in a telephone conversation to stop posting on the website and on press releases or radio shows that any of the systems provided are “proprietary” as they were / are not. Solar Systems are pieced together using off the shelf components 95% of the time. It is rare that a technology company install its own solar systems save for CPV systems (SolFocus, Morgan Solar etc.).
By November 30th I was ready to go to and present in Pakistan around December 20, IF the equipment could be shipped ASAP. It was not, because of Bergamo’s inability to get us necessary details:
By December 6th it was apparent that the December trip was to be delayed again. For one I could not get an address to ship my components to (Sohail was to provide all accommodations for the demo in Pakistan), nor a receiver’s name, nor any details on the press conference for the demo which they promised, nor the list of people I would be presenting to, nor the expected sales for the first trip (other than Sohail’s telephone promises of “More sales that you can handle!”).
I received this email on December 6th:
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The email was encouraging but I had to delay my vacation time block at my 9-5 job AGAIN to late January which upset my boss very much, but Sohail assured me over the phone that by then everything will be set.
By December 4th I had a full presentation ready for the press conference in Pakistan, complete with speech, music, and powerpoint / handouts.
By this time I still had not received Visa Application information, consignee information, press conference information, accommodation information, “Steve’s” company’s updates (where are they, why are they not in the picture, are they still going with me?, etc.)
Regarding the above email, I was concerned that the importer wanted 50% of the profits indefinitely. Sohail emailed me this response and called me indicating the profit sharing with the importer was a one time thing:
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My response:
I am happy to split with the distributor this one time…but in the future we cannot split profits! You are giving away 50% of our markup? That means the effective markup for each system is 50%, not 100%. If we split, it is the same as saying Bergamo gets 30% of GP and Big Leaf gets 20% of GP, and not the LOI’s quote of 60% and 40%.
Distributors can take a cut but 50% is unjustified.
***
Then more red flags. Sohail claimed the demo will take place early January, when shipping takes weeks, and he sends me an email indicating that the profit margins on the systems he asked me to send in the email above should only be $1,000…which to me sounds like dishonest business practice because the DISTRIBUTOR / IMPORTER would set the final retail price…
I was ok with this happening one time, but was uncomfortable in general:
The low markup is fine for this container and I agree that we have to take this hit to demo.
I have no objections with it at all.
I just want to clarify that distributors in the FUTURE will not take 50% of the profit.
This container’s distributor is free to take 50% of the profit.
Good?
Rahi.
***
And this email from me as well:
Just to confirm what I will be quoting:
20’ container
1. 25% of which is DC water pump system with panels, pump, and control box.
2. 25% of which is AC water pump system with panels, pump, control box, and inverter.
3. 50% of which will be filled EVENLY with:
a. 5KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
b. 10KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
c. 20KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
d. 30KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
e. 50KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
Markup will be $1,000 per Water Pump System.
Markup will be $1,000 per 2KV for Generators (i.e. 10KV system has a $5,000 markup which is about 17% markup, and the 20KV system has a $10,000 markup which is about 9% markup)
Profits will be split with distributor for this one container.
Shipment will be for February 4-8th 2012.
As for how many systems we can fit into the container I have to wait for the suppliers response, which will include the final price.
Sounds good?
***
Since Sohail wanted a demo in Early January, I switched my vacation from late January with another colleague to early January, upsetting my boss again, and I put pressure on Sohail to get me shipping details because shipping from china can take weeks.
He replied with this email:
Ship To
Mr. Mujtaba Ghaus
***
I responded with:
Can I use the same address for the VISA application?
Cheers!
Rahi.
, He replied : YES.
***
Still on December 6th I receive this email:
***
Note that Steve’s company is mentioned again.
I received an email which had a google document with Banca Intesa STA and $1B indicated…but I could not make sense of the document as it was not coherent or reliable in any way.
Another email indicated the ministers are looking forward to seeing us:
Mr. Rahi Tajzadeh and Mr. Dmytro Khimich
Attached Please Find Invitation Letter from Bergamo Global Energy Private Limited. We will need B/L for the Demo model that was shipped to Pakistan to get duty exemption from Goverment of Pakistan.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/ministers-letter/
Attached is link Invitation from Minister for Irrigation Mr. Jam Saif Ullah Khan. If you need any confirmation then the consulate office may contact his office directly.
Thanks
Sohail Parekh
www.bergamoenergy.com
***
Note the link points to a dead URL now.
***
Here is where the REAL trouble starts.
Shipping problems: Bill of landing issues, port authority issues, etc. Here is an email indicating the beginning of the problems, NONE of which was indicated by the actual port authority, rather Sohail’s contacts (most likely Dr. Ghaus).
***
More problems, and more people I do not know, and more issues that SHOULD have been cleared up or expected considering Bergamo’s supposed experience in Pakistan:
***
More delays, and I had to change my vacation block again:
***
From December 6th onwards this went on, all of it should have been easy to settle. By this time I had made a promotional video, website, presentations, handouts, systems were designed, suppliers set up,etc.
By December 27th I was becoming concerned about the timeliness of things, and I recognized a pattern:
Whenever I was concerned about something, or asked too many questions, Sohail or Hillard would ask me to come up with a new quote, usually very large systems, or to add BB Solar to their “Master File”.
NOTE: The Master File they sent me was the same as the powerpoint slide “portfolio” I saw in Hillards house (save for a few changes) and STILL AT THIS TIME included Greensafe, Suntrough, and Platinum Funding.
I still have this document of course, and they asked me to add BB Solar AND FALCON Airplane company…which made me question whether they had the resources to create even a single business plan for Bergamo…which I had not seen…
Also please note that this Master File was referred to by Sohail as Bergamo’s Business Plan.
Here is an email I received to give you an indication of what we are talking about:
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I was sent Hillards Big Biz Radio Interview and put it on BB Solar’s site…but I was very concerned about his comments regarding equipment already being in Pakistan and things going well, even my retired mother felt this was dishonest.
Then Hillard emails me asking me to put the following on my BB Solar website:
on bbsolar.ca Web Site
Presentation Confirmation with the Minister to be held in Pakistan Jan 2nd, 2012 by Bergamo associates in Pakistan.
* Bergamo’s Joint Venture Partner’s to Arrange an event in Sindh Province ( Tando Allah Yar) at a Farm the gathering would be for 50 to 60 growers plus approx 40 to 50 guests from Media- Local Businessman and Government officials will be invited including local Member of Parliaments and Minister of that area local media will be invited to attend the demonstration.
*Lunch, Tea, Lecture session, demonstration and other related activities would be arranged at farm level.
Similar Event will take place in Indus Hotel Hyderabad.
Punjab Marriott Hotel, Pear Continental Hotel. And Guest will be taken to the demonstration site or brought back to the hotel for further details of possible sales.
Generators for Home's etc etc
Pumps for Tubewells
***
I did not because the dates are all wrong and there were details in the email that I was not aware of (for example which hotels, cities, etc.).
Then more shipping problems, needing original bill of landing etc…
On January 1st it seems to me that things with Dr. Ghaus changed such that he did not want to work with Sohail anymore, and I received this disturbing email indicating I shipped too early…when he wanted me in Pakistan in Late DECEMBER!!!!:
***
Note that all NECESSARY DOCUMENTS were eventually fedexed and telexed from China and that our supplier in China has NEVER had issues shipping components, nor did they understand the need for an original document instead of a fax, scan, email, etc.
Also note that Sohail gave me the shipping address of Dr. Ghaus, asking me to demo in EARLY JANUARY, knowing I cannot ship until I had the address and that shipping takes weeks.
Note that Bergamo did not take into account shipping time in general.
Note that I sent Bergamo emails indicating that I will be happy to pay the charges for shipping without original bill of landing, but they refused, and asked for Bill of Landing, Commercial Invoice, etc.
All of this shipping headache indicated to me that Bergamo’s acquaintances in Pakistan were not ready to receive large shipments. I am not sure why I continued from this point on…Perhaps it was the many many telephone conversations where Sohail told me he is my brother, and loves me, and will not let anything happen to me.
All of a sudden, on January 7th, everything seems fine with the shipping…here is an email from Sohail:
***
So things seemed fine…then the bill of landing which I FEDEXED to them from CHINA was not able to be received…it was addressed to Dr Ghaus, and Sohail told me that someone else (unknown who) went to pick it up and they have it and it is gone…
Chinese suppliers told me they do not have another original copy and that this is not reasonable in any sense.
Apparently a guy named Ali Mehmood picked up the bill of landing as per an email from Sohail on January 12…it is still missing at this point.
All documents were arranged by the Chinese suppliers despite the inconvenience and resent to Sohail’s contacts.
***
Once again to keep me quiet and ‘busy’ sohail sends me a document indicating that there will be a bridge built for $1B in Bangladesh (Sohail misspelled Bangladesh), and that he wants ME to put in a bid for it for Bergamo.
On the phone he said that Bergamo and The Big Leaf can run the operation for the bridge while a CHINESE company would do the work. We would act like middle men.
Here is the email:
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Note that The Big Leaf and BB Solar are / were in no way ready to place a serious bid for the construction of a bridge.
I then receive this vague email from Sohail making claims that I could not stand by. He indicated that this will likely be a press release:
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More emails were sent to me indicating Bergamo has $400 M… by this time (January 18th), a late January demo was out of the question and AGAIN I had to delay my vacation block at my 9-5 work.
This was the last time for my boss who did not renew my contract as a direct result of this, and even indicated to me “I’m sure you will do fine at your other job”.
***
From this point on (Jan 20), another name came into the picture, Waseem.
This email below from Sohail indicates that BERGAMO KNEW AND WAS ON BOARD WITH CHINESE PRODUCTS / COMPONENTS:
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Then more trouble with Dr Ghaus who could not receive the products, would not accept me paying him for any fees he would pay, and not cooperating with anyone.
Finally after months of trouble, Sohail send me a link to the import rules for Pakistan…something that Dr. Ghaus should have done 90 days prior.
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On January 25, I get this email which is vague and cryptic:
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Again I comply and make the quotes but am not sure who Nasim is.
Sohail made it clear in multiple emails that I HAVE TO ALWAYS indicate that BB Solar is a JV Partner of Bergamo etc…even though no contract outside of an LOI was signed to indicate as such, and no ownership was transferred.
Note that Bergamo NEVER ONCE asked to sign a contract or transfer ownership, or write in the official documents that Hillard and Sohail and I are on the board of directors which is what they wanted.
Here is a sample email from Sohail:
***
Again I receive an email asking me to make another quote, this time for 950 pumps and 35000 gallons an hour.
I felt like they were just keeping me busy but since they never said who the quotes I am making are going to, or what the context is, or time frame etc. I felt like more was going on that I was led to believe.
By the end of January they still could not get my equipment out of customs, and whenever I wanted to intervene or just go to Pakistan to get it out myself, Sohail would tell me that these are “his people” and this is “his country” and he knows how things work.
I received this email:
***
The above is all that’s listed in the email…
Then another twist, this time Waseem and Nasim are named together, here is the email (note the spelling of my name is wrong again)
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Here is Sohail trying to get something done about the shipping fiasco:
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January 29th, Sohail emails me something he sent to Nasim and Waseem, regarding a 5MW solar powerplant. He asked me in a telephone conversation to make a quote for this system (even though it is CSP, and most likely the SunTrough deal that fell through).
By this time I had quoted the 950 pumps, the 500kW systems+, and made a generic price list for systems ranging from 5kW – 50MW+
One day later, Sohail asked me to quote solar powered cell phone towers.
I don’t think he realized the amount of work that goes into quoting systems, especially if they are new, such as solar cell towers.
I made a quote nevertheless in an effort to be a good partner.
Then I suggested to Sohail, in passing, that investing $1B+ in solar panels installed along the top 10 major highways in Pakistan could power much of Karachi.
Sohail jumped on it and asked me to make him an official quote. He said he sent the highway quote to the Alternative Energy Board.
By January 31st, we were supposed to transfer the name of the recipient on all shipments to Pacific Engineering, to clear up the customs issue.
Also the mounting equipment was lost completely at this time if I am not mistaken.
By this time I was also weary of Sohail’s contact in the Alternative Energy Board, Mr. Alaudin, who has critics claiming he is crooked. Also Sohail told me on multiple occasions that anything we bring into the country must go through Alaudin. This information turned out to not be correct according to people I eventually worked with in Pakistan.
Here is the email indicating I am to change recipient to Pacific Engineering:
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Below is THE FIRST mention of components NOT made in China, and the email is in reference to the CELL PHONE TOWER systems, not the DEMO:
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Then this cryptic email from Sohail asking that I set up ANOTHER company in Pakistan of which Saim and Waseem will be shareholders:
***
Needless to say the red flags were everywhere at this point.
Then things get more complex with this email:
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The following email was from Sohail , dated January 31, 2012:
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And another email from Sohail asking for more joint ventures in Pakistan…looked to me like Nasim and Waseem wanted a piece of the pie too:
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Then more shipments went missing:
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Kind emails were sent to Nasim and Waseem to accommodate my arrival:
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Then I see this press release which was news to me, I had no idea another existing renewable energy company would be “working” with us:
SOLAR WIND PRIVATE LTD ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE FOR DEMONSTRATIONS IN PAKISTAN BEING DONE WITH BB SOLAR AND BERGAMO ACQUISITIONS
Karachi, Pakistan—March 15, 2012— Solar Wind Private LTD, with the support of BB Solar and Bergamo Acquisitions Corp. (OTC:BGMO), announced today the demonstrations of Solar Tube Pumping Systems and Solar Generators for home and cell phone towers on April 10, 2012 at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass Karachi and at their office 1 C Khaybane Shamsher Phase 5 D. H. A Karachi.
BB Solar can provide customized solutions and financing options to more customers than ever before, making the switch to Solar Energy easy and profitable. BB Solar, is a Canadian based Solar Energy Solutions Company. The company has strategically teamed up with The Big Leaf Inc. and Bergamo Acquisition Inc. to increase its ability to serve customers. Offering multiple types and technologies of solar systems, BB Solar plans to enter into various markets, and carve new niches.
BB Solar’s focus for Pakistan will include residential roof top and ground mounted solar, irrigation systems and water pumping, backup power and electricity, commercial and industrial electricity, government and military systems, and solar powered cellular phone towers.
Solar Power use saves the cost of diesel fuel or unreliable, unavailable grid power. The local population benefits from decreased pollution, local jobs created for installation and maintenance, and increased value in land. The Nation as a whole benefits as it can decrease the dependence on imported oil, as well as a decreased requirement to burn coal locally rather than sell it internationally.
For more information: www.bbsolar.ca
Contact: sales@bbsolar.ca
***
Another press release:
Karachi Pakistan March 15 2012, Mr. Waseem Ahmed C.E.O of Solar Wind pvt Ltd is glad to announce in collaboration with BB Solar Inc a Joint Venture Subsidiary Company of Bergamo Acquisition Corp ( OTC;BGMO ) a public limited company in U.S.A, will conduct demonstrations of solar tube well pumping systems, solar generators for domestic use, cell phone towers and various other energy required industries on April 10th 2012 onwards at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern By Pass Karachi.
There are currently 40 million tube well pumping systems in Pakistan that are being used at less than full capacity due to a power shortage of approximately 10,000 megawatts. Recognizing the benefits of solar powered energy generators the type developed by BB Solar Inc the country will meet its severely needed energy requirements by installing at least two to three million solar power generators engineered by BB Solar Inc.
The company's engineers have developed solar energy pumps in Canada, USA and China having capacities ranging from 6,000 liters per hour to 160,000 liters per hour and will significantly reduce the energy cost to the end user.It will not only meet the countries energy needs but will decrease pollution,dependence on imported oil,reduce the use of coal domestically rather than export to gain foreign exchange and finally create thousands of jobs for installation and maintenance of solar energy products, which is the basic mission of the current Government. To attend the demonstration a formal invitation will be extended to the heads of various concerned ministries and various important institutions.
***
By March 17th the equipment was at Mr. Waseem’s farmhouse, ready to be deployed and demonstrated.
I was sent pictures of the components in an email.
Here is an email from Sohail indicating that all seems well:
***
After I speak with Sohail, he wanted me to write for him a press release; because he stated that I write better than he does (I should have asked where his marketing team was). Then I get this email from Hillard, with the subject line: Use some words from here
***
Note that it refers to COMPANY ENGINEERS…which we did not have any at the time.
Then this release with more details:
BB Solar in conjunction with (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp and SolarWind Private Ltd are pleased to announce a demonstration of a customizable solar solution in a farm in Karachi, Pakistan.
The demo will include solar tube well pumping, and a solar generator (capable of powering homes, businesses or cellular phone towers). Thanks to the tireless efforts of our technical team, we are able to demonstrate all three solutions in early April.
BB Solar is sending its CEO Rahi Tajzadeh to Karachi on March 29th where he will work with the local team to arrange a full press conference at the demonstration site in early April. The site is located at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass in Karachi. The Installation of our product that arrived at the farm, Installation will commence from monday.
Formal invitations will be extended to heads of various ministries, important institutions, and military bodies to attend the demonstration.
This demonstration will illustrate the versatility of BB Solar in system design and solution implementation in the solar industry. Given that there are Millions of tube wells in Pakistan, most of which are powered by diesel generators and unreliable AC power, the market for solar tube well pumping ranges from $10B USD - $200B USD over the next 5-10 years.
When looking at solar systems for electricity generation, the market is even larger: Since residential, commercial, industrial, government, and military bodies are all potential customers of solar electricity systems, the market ranges from $100B USD - $400B USD over the next 10 years.
There are over 40,000 cellular phone towers in Pakistan alone, each of which requires an average of 3kW of reliable power. Our solar generators, along with batteries, can provide uninterrupted power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We predict that the total value of this market ranges from $750M USD - $1.4B USD over the next 5 years.
BB Solar is working with SolarWind Private Ltd to capture a significant portion of these markets. We are aiming at acquiring 10%-20% of the solar tube well pumping market within 5 years, 10%-15% of solar energy generators within 5 years, and 25%-33% of the solar powered cellular phone towers within 5 years. We plan on achieving these goals via the following value added benefits that we provide our customers:
- Customized solutions instead of catalogue sales
- Free ABC and TLC analysis for each major customer
- We have multiple suppliers and technologies at the ready to better meet your needs
- Our solutions are either made in Canada, USA, or China to provide more flexibility in requirements or budget
- We provide solutions from $5,000USD - $100M+ and anything in between
- We use locally sourced sales, distribution, installation, and maintenance professionals, thereby increasing the total value to the local community
Our pumping systems can generate 6,000 litres – 160,000 litres per hour, and the flexibility of our system design allows the customer to dictate what they receive. Our solar generators come in multiple technologies and various configurations whether you are an individual home owner, farmer, or military commander, you can rely on our ability to meet your specific needs!
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
By March 20th I had my flight booked as the team in Pakistan told me all was set up and Nasim and Waseem knew of my arrival date and time.
I get this email a day later from Sohail:
***
More confirmation of things supposedly going well:
***
Up until the day before I left, everything with Nasim and Waseem seemed OK, here is an exchange indicating as such:
Gentlemen,
It is an absolute pleasure that our plans are finally complete and things are moving! I am thrilled to visit Karachi and meet each and every one of you. Before I get to my agenda I want to make our goals very clear:
BB Solar’s Goal in general, is to get as much sales as possible in solar energy and pumping systems, through the help of SolarWind Private LTD and AEDB. But if you want to know what our minimum requirements are, 360 complete systems / year is reasonable. I know that it may be very easy or very hard to reach 30 systems / month, but let’s aim for at least this volume!
My agenda is very simple:
1. Test the system in Karachi successfully and let it run for a few days.
2. Meet with as many important persons as we can to prepare them for the presentation.
3. Trial run – Perform the presentation and press conference once with no one there to ensure everything works.
4. Press Conference / Presentation takes place.
5. We get orders for BB Solar Inc. via SolarWind Private Ltd. and AEDB
My visit is scheduled for 7 – 10 days, or however long it is necessary to stay for the agenda to be complete.
As for the missing components, I believe you are referring to the mounting hardware: the rails and clamps that hold down the panels. I am trying to source them locally, but if we do not find it or are not able to mount the panels another way, I can have China ship another set to Pacific Engineering’s address or another address of your choice. This should not be absolutely necessary for the presentation but can help a lot.
I have sent you 2 pumps (1 is a backup in case the other one fails), and 3,000W of panels, and a 2,000 inverter. This is enough equipment to demo a Solar Generator, and a Solar Water Pumping System using the same components.
I am very happy to see the progress and am very thankful to Mr. Nasim and Mr. Waseem for their hospitality!
Once again I arrive at ~2:30 AM on March 29th in Karachi.
I look forward to a successful endeavour and thank you all for your time.
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
Subject: Re: Rahi Arriving 2.35 Pm Karachi FLT# 0221 Etihad Airlines
Rahi
Kindly send us your complete visit plan and duration of visit as well with agenda.
We understand that you will also need time to do the piping work for the pump and connection to solar panels.Kindly note that end connectors for solar panels are not available locally.We are trying to mechanically fix the solar panels at a suitable location to save time.
The necessary cabling,piping to s-pump will be done when you are here.
We only have some solar cells,two pump and a 2kw invertor.
Nasim / Waseem
When I arrived in Pakistan, Mr Waseem was supposed to have a driver pick me up, take me to a guest house, set me up with an office, phone and internet, and take me to the demo site at the very least.
No one showed up at the airport at 3 am…or 4 am…I was stranded. I went to Marriott hotel on my own funds (the LOI was clear that Bergamo was to make ALL NECESSARY ACCOMMODATIONS for SALES TO TAKE PLACE).
The entire trip consisted of me running around trying desperately to salvage the trip. I set up a relationship between The Big Leaf and a local company (The REFUSED TO WORK WITH BERGAMO after they were told by Sohail that Bergamo needs to buy a Pakistani bank before they can do anything with Solar…which was news to me). That company and I set up importing and delivery and installation infrastructure, as well as sales and marketing infrastructure…none of which could be useful if not funded! Which bergamo promised to do… … they did not.
I met the Minister of the province and his brother…both were wonderful people and VERY friendly! They took me out to dinner and I visited their estate in a village outside Sukur. The minister made it clear to me that ANY solar generator is too expensive when compared to diesel generators, REGARDLESS of the lower operating / maintenance costs, and that Sohail made a mistake in thinking that the minister would or could buy the systems. (more on this later).
I get this email from Sohail:
***
From this point on Nasim and Waseem do not talk to me, other than 1 email from Nasim saying that he did NOT invite me and is NOT interested in talking to me at all.
Sohail was fuming and called him *&%^&*% even in an email to Waseem, who is friends with Nasim!
I was stuck with no demo, no guest house, no office, and only a few thousand I brought in case of emergency.
This email was sent to Waseem:
***
Note that I personally did not offer the demo as a gift to Waseem UNLESS he let me use his guest house, the demo site for a press conference, etc.
The following press release was issued sometime in April, I was asked to write it for Bergamo and I was stuck in a hotel room in Pakistan with a return ticket one month away and not enough money to stay that long.
Sohail made it clear to me that I HAVE to indicate a successful demo, and that he will pay me my losses.
BB Solar Inc. progress update in Pakistan
Marriott Hotel, Karachi Pakistan, April 2nd, 2012. (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp is pleased to update its shareholder CEO of BB Solar Inc Mr. Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with warm and enthusiastic support. We have already found a local marketing and distribution company to work with which will make our sales, import, support, installation, distribution, and maintenance programs less costly and less complicated. Our demo has been installed in a local farm and we are on our way to take photographs and video of it in action. Our demo was an example of our economy line of solar water pumping systems, and we have already sold it within the first week. We spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and have come to the conclusion that high quality 5kW – 25kW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell in this burgeoning country. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German components. The potential market size here for 5kW – 25kW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. The people here are used to getting less than they paid for in terms of service and quality, and almost no post-purchase support. This is an opportunity for BB Solar to take the market by storm as we focus on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program. Our partner companies The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp are excited at our move to enter the Pakistani market and eVP Sohail Parekh is very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. As we sold our first demo in less than four days we decided not to hold a press conference until our CEO Rahi Tajzadeh returns with an American or German made 20kW system which is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan we are arranging a large press conference for this 20kW system which will take place by the end of the season, or early summer.
Looking forward to growing our company and working with you: BB Solar Inc.
BB Solar Inc.
Sales@BBSolar.ca
Rahi@BBSolar.ca
1-416-884-8033
Marriott Hotel 3 5680111 Room 705.
***
Another press release they sent out…with my name misspelled AGAIN.
Bergamo Acquisition Corp Provides Update on BB Solar, Inc. Project in Pakistan
Karachi Pakistan -April 2, 2012- Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC: BGMO) announced today that BB Solar, Inc., joint venture subsidiary company’s CEO, Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with enthusiastic support. The company is establishing local marketing and distribution centers to assist in its sales, import, support, installation, distribution , and maintenance which will enable a much economical and less complicated program.
BB Solar CEO Mr. Rahi Tajzada has spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and has come to the conclusion that high quality 5KW to 25KW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German products. The potential market size here for 5KW to 25KW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3,000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. BB Solar has an opportunity to become the dominant player in the market as it focuses on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program which is important to the people of Pakistan. BB Solar’s partner companies, The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp, are enthused and fully supportive at entering the Pakistani market.
Sohail Parekh, Sr. Executive Vice President of Bergamo, stated, “We are very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. Since we have decided to offer higher quality Canadian, US and German product instead of Chinese products which are flooded in the market due to which BB Solar’s CEO, Rahi Tajzadeh will return with an American or German made 20KW system in the next few weeks.The 20KW system is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan, we will be arranging a press conference for this 20KW system to take place by the end of the season or early summer. Currently Mr. Rahie Tajzada is conducting meetings with various Governmental and private authorities while researching proper energy requirement for the country, specially punjab Government is offering subsidies for energy projects.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For further information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
Sohail send me an email with the subject line “Useful points for Rahi” which he wrote, and CLEARLY INDICATES CHINESE COMPONENTS as well as Canada / USA.
***
More press releases with known lies in them, which I made clear to them are not true in telephone conversations:
BERGAMO ACQUISITION’S BB SOLAR CEO COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL TRIP
TO PAKISTAN
Henderson, NV-April 17, 2012-Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC:BGMO) announced today that BB Solar CEO Rahi Tajzadeh has returned from a successful trip to Karachi Pakistan. A Marketing, Importing, Distribution, and Sales partner in Karachi with the ability to reach all of Pakistan was established. Having spent two weeks engaging in discussions with local leaders and provincial ministers, as well as local business owners, farmers, irrigation designers and managers, Rahi has spotted a market opportunity ready to grow in a region with plenty of sunshine and heavy substitute costs.
The bread and butter of this market is the 5KW-25KW systems, although special projects like DHA City present a wonderful prospect for large market gains. Currently customers are used to, but tired of lackluster post purchase support, catalogue sales techniques, limited sources of products, and difficult warranty processes, all of which BB Solar can alleviate. With subsidies from the local government and other NGO’s, the support of the local community, and a value added approach to business practices, BB Solar is poised to achieve a significant market share within a few years. 300 – 3000 systems annually, ranging from 5KW–25KW are estimated once Marketing is established, and the supply chain is running smoothly inside Pakistan.
Various entities in and around Karachi and in the Punjab Province have requested a larger 20KW demonstration for irrigation and off grid home use. There is also a demand for hybrid solar and wind energy systems which BB Solar’s parent, R&D company, The Big Leaf is working on. These systems can increase the total efficiency of the usable land for energy generation with no carbon emissions. BB Solar is also working on a tender for DHA City in at least one of their solar energy projects, which range from 1-10MW. BB Solar is in talks with a very special, specialized, value added supplier for proprietary technology in the tender and if the supplier can agree to terms, a competitive advantage can be achieved.
BB Solar is sending quotes to interested parties and is aiming at 3 – 30 systems by quarter end.
Updates on the next visit to Pakistan will be made available on the websites as they develop.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For more information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
Contact:
For Sales and General Inquiries Contact Us
Email: SALES@BBSOLAR.CA
Purchasing: RAHI@BBSOLAR.CA
Business Development: DIMITRY@BBSOLAR.CA
Special Rate Inquiries: TERESSA@BBSOLAR.CA
Financing Options: WWW.BERGAMOENERGY.COM
Fax: 1-905-763-1213 (please email us before you fax)
Bergamo Acquisition Corp.
President & Director
hillardherzog@bergamocorp.com
www.bergamocorp.com
www.bergamoenergy.com
http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy
or
Investor Relations:
The Eversull Group, Inc.
Jack Eversull, President, 972-571-1624
Fax: 214-469-2361
jack@theeversullgroup.com
***
By May 11 I am back in Toronto, out of money, a job, and my mother’s retirement savings…all of which Sohail PERSONALLY stated he will reimburse me on MULTIPLE telephone conversations with WITNESSES who I will be getting affidavits from.
Then I get this email with more cryptic references to potential contracts:
***
Then I get this email from Sohail, indicating that the same minister who told me the systems are too expensive (regardless of the supplier or country of origin) wants to purchase systems again…:
***
By July 17th, I was aware that Bergamo could not meet the requirements of the LOI in any form or any of the claims they made about their business. It was evident to me that they did not care too much about my success because in hindsight, to enter into the Pakistani solar market as an external entity it would take far more money and time than they thought possible, as well as complete business infrastructure which they did not seem to be interested in at all. They never asked about things like “where do you store systems” “Do you use JIT?” “how will you market and to whom?” “who will provide the post purchase service and maintenance and how?” “how will warranty and RMA requests be handled?” “what software / package will you use for monitoring?”
These questions were to be figured out AFTER a QUICK sale was made to “Sohail’s People”. This way we could get funding to figure out all these questions and more (after all the business plan I wrote was not an OPERATIONAL business plan, which would be hundreds of pages long, I wrote a summary business plan which is reasonable for a quick sale).
As the days went on, Sohail made it CLEAR to me, to our mutual contacts, and to my mother (through me) that ALL LOSSES will be REIMBURSED by Bergamo and that they STILL want to do business with me.
I asked to be paid in certified cheque or stock, and they claimed that they would send me and out mutual contact to Las Vegas, first class, to arrange the payment.
Nothing happened for “TWO WEEKS”…this went on for MONTHS.
Finally by August Sohail claimed that end of August is fine for a visit.
By the End of August, nothing happened.
In telephone conversations with our mutual contacts on the line, Sohail claimed that BERGAMO and HE do NOT HAVE MONEY to pay me and that Sohail even owes his lawyers $50,000.
I made it clear that they, as a PUBLIC company are claiming MILLIONS in profits / earnings, and that either he is lying to us or to shareholders, and either way he and Hillard are paying their bills somehow.
They constantly say they are travelling to England, Singapore, New York, LA, etc. but claim that they have NO MONEY to pay me.
Sohail said on the phone with witnesses that “Rahi, as god as my witness, I am a god fearing man, and as soon as I have the money to pay you your losses I will. What kind of a RUTHLESS man do you think I am that I would be okay with your mother losing her retirement savings? And I will pay you PERSONALLY, because my partner Hillard would object to Bergamo paying you for MY (Sohail’s) MISTAKES in Pakistan”.
I Promptly replied “If an IBM Vice President makes a mistake and IBM loses $1M, does the Vice President pay from his own pocket for the loss? Does that even make any sense?”
I asked that Bergamo pay me and Sohail pay me, but that the total is the amount I was asking for.
Sohail agreed many times to me and our mutual contact and both of us at once that I will be reimbursed for losses as a result of Bergamo’s inability to meet the requirements of the LOI.
Soon thereafter he stopped talking to me (by now its late August) , telling out mutual contact that he has nothing to say to me, and that he is working on getting the money and that it will be any day now.
Since then I waited patiently, then when the time came that I had given them to respond to my pleas for humanity and good business practice.
Here is just a sample from as early as May!
Sohail,
I will address your concerns in order:
1. What are these tGOP interests and what size of systems and how many do they want and when? My prices are as low as they come.
2. BGMO and BB Solar have not signed a shareholder agreement, thus BGMO cannot demand that we stop spending money or do anything until that is signed…but let me assure you that we are NOT spending any money because I am bankrupt as it is.
3. Terms of delivery and service of any sales are the property of BB Solar until a shareholder agreement is signed.
4. USAID is expired as far as we know and even if it was not, the increase in cost for US components is almost as much as the savings to the customers.
5. The MOU we signed was actually an LOI and not a contract, and BGMO has not met the requirements we laid out for you in that LOI. Therefore a new agreement must be made, because the existing LOI’s terms were not met and it is voided.
6. We are happy to come and visit you and Hillard in Vegas to discuss our next step, at your cost (again I am bankrupt), but before that happens we need to be paid for the expenses incurred to date and that Sohail has promised over the phone to me and both *** brothers (to date it is $58,000 CDN). Once my costs are covered and my parents’ money is returned, then we will visit Vegas to discuss our mutually successful future.
7. Please let me know who your auditors and accountants / experts are who will evaluate our proposals, as we need to make sure they meet our requirements.
We are getting lots of response from Pakistan and Babar is doing a great job getting our name out there. We are already competing for more than one 20kW system and sales are inevitable. What needs to happen next is that Bergamo reimburses me the costs that I have incurred, or at least the costs over and above the cost of the demo ($52,300).
Furthermore, I want to remind you that on more than one occasion we were promised reimbursement of our expenses, and full financing for operations, over the phone by Sohail and have no doubt that he will deliver on his welcoming promise.
Once my parents are reimbursed, we can move forward and come to Vegas, share sales information, sign a new agreement / LOI / MOU, and a shareholder agreement.
Thank you,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
****
Here is another email from me to them:
Sohail,
I am doing my best to defend Bergamo but your investors are bombarding my email and message boards. This is going to hurt The Big Leaf as well if we do not say something to them about our meeting or the funding.
I will continue to defend BGMO and tell people that I am patient.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Do we not have any updates at all?
You (Sohail) are treating me like a dog or a peasant that is only good for free work.
What did I do to you to deserve this treatment?
Remember each time you asked me to come up with a quote or an analysis or a letter or a website change? I did all those things. Remember when I asked that you repay me the amount you said you would? Nothing happened. You stopped talking to me.
Why are you doing this?
I know you and Hillard have money. I am not stupid Sohail. You cannot live in Las Vegas and pay for accountants and airplane trips around the world without having money.
I am not asking for $1,000,000 or some outrageous amount. I am asking you to put me back to where I was before you and Bergamo made me lose it all out of the inability to meet some simple requirements in our LOI.
What more do you want from me, the world, the **** brothers?
What are you waiting for? I don’t want $1B, I want my losses covered.
Time to be a man.
RSVP
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 5:15 PM
To: 'Rahi Tajzadeh'
Cc: sohailbergamo@aol.com
Subject: your compensation
Hi Rahi
Just finished a detailed conversation with Sohail who himself is earnest to get this resolved, and make sure you get paid.
According to Sohail they are in the last lap of their efforts to get the funding in place and every body would know because they will have a press release for public knowledge.
He has not blocked your email s but does not want to respond as he has nothing more to say
Sohail assured me that it is a matter of time and would appreciate if you could exercise patience as this will help him a lot to focus on the issue. My younger brother is on the same page as myself
Appreciate your cooperation and I also need a break for a couple of days as this is getting stressful for myself also.
Let us have a positive outlook and sincerely hope Sohail will do the needful to fulfill his obligations
Bye for now
***
And another from me:
Sohail and Hillard.
My next step is to issue an official invoice for my work and losses due to the inability of Bergamo to meet the requirements of the LOI.
This is because you are NOT answering my emails, or text messages, and feel that ignoring me will make me go away.
I give you 1 day to reply and arrange payment of my fees and losses as you agreed over the phone.
I know you both have millions of shares, and money, and invoicing is my next step.
I truly wish it would not come to this but you seem to feel that I am stupid or naïve.
The invoice is below and I will officially issue it to you tomorrow if you do not reply TODAY.
Rahi
Here is where I drew a line in the sand:
Sohail, Hillard,
I asked you yesterday in an email which was delivered to each of your email addresses to please reply and confirm you received the email and to respond to continuing requests to reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you will do.
I asked that you reply before today otherwise I would officially issue the invoice.
You did not reply and I am forced to issue the invoice and take this to the next level.
Let me remind you that you brought me to this point by:
- Lying about owning Greensafe and other companies when I met you in November 2011.
- Knowingly lying in press releases and BigBiz radio show about BB Solar’s progress in Pakistan (i.e. “we had a successful demo and it is already up and running”).
- Not meeting the requirements of the LOI and leaving me stranded in Pakistan.
- Not being able to set up the demo and having it STOLEN by “your people”.
- Lying to me about saving me money on hotel and airfare costs.
- Lying to me about quotes and system designs that you didn’t ever follow up on (at least 6 times): why would you ask me to make you various system quotes without an RFP or any EVIDENCE that there are customers.
- Lying to me about having an office.
- Lying to me about your financial situation “we do not have money” and at the same time telling shareholders that you do have money.
- Lying on your financial statements about earning $80 Million, but not having enough to reimburse me $60,000+.
- Lying about knowing government officials, and other “guaranteed sales” like hospital owners, business owners, etc.
- Lying about ***** paying for my hotel.
- Lying about your (Sohail) sister saving me money on my hotel.
- Lying about Babar Mirza and his father about saving me money on my hotel.
- Losing the trust of Babar and his Father (they do not want to do any business with you as they do not trust you at all).
- Lying about bribing government officials to “get us easy sales” which is illegal.
The invoice is below as a picture, and attached as a separate file.
My next step, if you ignore me, is to go to a collections agency and take legal action.
I will also make sure that ALL OF YOUR SHAREHOLDERS know about the ENTIRE story of BB Solar and Bergamo INCLUDING Hillard KNOWINGLY lying about BB Solar, The Big Leaf, Bergamo, and our mutual progress, which is VERY ILLEGAL.
I have no problems with letting the WHOLE WORLD know what is happening from an objective point of view, telling my story of losing my savings, my job, my mother’s retirement money, and my girlfriend.
Obviously you have money and stock which you could have paid me with, but now I will ONLY accept a certified cheque or wire transfer.
All you had to do, was set up a simple press conference, and ensure that Nassim and Wassim would not STEAL my equipment, and make sure I had the accommodations that you claimed I would have in Pakistan…but you failed to meet ALL of the requirements of the LOI.
You made another mistake by saying on the phone three times, with Malik and Shakir Malik as witnesses (which I will get an affidavit from them) about you, Sohail, personally paying me back all of my losses…which means that if Bergamo ignores this email and invoice as well, I will legally go after you Sohail personally.
What you do in the next 24 hours will determine what kind of men you are, Hillard and Sohail.
The mistake of thinking that I am an idiot or so naïve is very wrong.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
After this Sohail called me and told me to go F*&K myself, while telling our mutual contact that he STILL wants to pay me.
Here is another email from me:
Sohail, Hillard,
It has not been a week since I sent you an invoice and was yelled at by Sohail and told to “go f $k myself”.
I am giving you another chance to redeem yourselves as honest, good businessmen.
You have an opportunity to save your stock price and your respect in the investment community, and all you have to do is reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you would.
Once again please understand that you brought me to this point by continually making statements about meeting me in June, July, August, September, etc.
Furthermore I am not comfortable with the stress and anxiety both **** brothers have to go through just for me, it is not fair to them, and they would be perfectly happy if YOU MET THE REQURIEMTENTS OF THE LOI.
The time is now to send me a certified cheque via mail.
What’s your next move, I look forward to hearing from you.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
And another:
You now have an opportunity to increase your stock price dramatically.
It sits at $0.0184, which is a 75%+ loss since I met you both in November.
None of your business dealings are increasing your stock price, and each time my name comes up the price drops again.
Do you want to keep losing money by not fulfilling your obligations?
Is it worth not paying me a measly $68,000 that you will risk losing millions in stock value?
Do you realize you are ruining real people’s lives who invested in your company by letting the stock price fall like this?
Those people will be your enemies for life, and unlike a mild mannered Rahi, they may take legal action against you both very soon.
So again, I ask,
Is it worth losing your corporation, years of work, millions in stock value, and the opportunity to dump more shares in the future just to save a paltry $60-$70 thousand?
If that is the case, then you are not good businessmen. Simple.
When a restaurant owes money to waiters or suppliers, they pay up BEFORE customers walk in the door, now it’s your turn.
Rahi
***
Then Hillard finally replies with a THREAT, including a junk reference to incorrect country of origin for the components, and my response to it as well:
Hi Hillard Nice to hear from you finally.
I have one simple thing to say about your email.
BB Solar’s comment, my comment was made AFTER I made an assessment in Pakistan on my OWN money and OWN work with Babar, NOT BEFORE my trip.
The quote you refer to is below:
“The BB Solar chief said that most residents, farmers, commercial and industrial markets are looking for higher quality Canadian, American and German products while more economical and Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious.”
The comment was made AFTER MY PRODUCTS WERE STOLEN BY YOUR PEOPLE and AFTER I met with officials in Pakistan that I set up the interview with Babar’s help, NOT YOURS. So you should really do your homework.
Note that it also says that Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious. Note that your email below does NOT refer to this part of the interview, and you are again distorting facts. Nothing I have said has been inflammatory and I am insulted that you would attack me after my patience with you and Sohail.
I have already invoiced you for losses, and will not communicate with you further unless you have my payment ready.
Please make payments payable to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc. or BB Solar Inc. as you see fit.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Please remove all references to BB Solar from your website and iHUB page immediately.
Yesterday was the due date on the invoice I sent you.
Rahi.
***
And the last email indicating a late fee and collections charges:
Sohail, Hillard, Bergamo,
The deadline for paying the invoice I sent has come and gone, and as a result I have added a suitable late fee, and a collections charge to the original invoice.
The new invoice is attached, and below for your reference.
If you do not contact me to indicate how you will be paying me, I will take this to a high powered, reputable, experienced collections agency.
Please note that I know the radio interview was PAID FOR, indicating that you HAVE money.
Thank you and make all payments in the form of wire transfer or certified cheque to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc., payments are to be made in Canadian Dollars.
Rahi
So in conclusion, does anyone here believe that Bergamo is the perfect organization they make themselves out to be? Perhaps the fact that ALL THE COMPANIES in their portfolio are either non existent, or belong to someone else. Or maybe it’s the Haanz Group that claims they own many companies that have never heard of the Haanz Group.
My next step is collections, then a law suit. Can I count on you (honest shareholders’) support?
I have personally worked with Hillard and SOhail and they are FRAUDS down to the core.
I met them, I tried to help them, they lied about everything under the sun just to put out Press Releases.
They didn't care about actually achieving anything, getting sales, setting up infrastructure.
Their "friends" don't care about them and are not willing to help them.
They "claim" that Hal W and Peter S and others were dishonest or incompetent or whatever... but seem every year to find more enemies and others to blame...so either they are LIARS or they have a GREAT knack for picking people to work with that they claim are liars and cheats.
So why would anyone invest in these guys?
Where is the stock now?
How many more investment portfolios can the Vancouver gang muddy up with this stock before even their customers cry foul?
How much longer before the RCMP and SEC are knocking on their doors and the stock goes to $0.00?
Funding for what?
What project are they funding?
VSTA? Why fund $36 million when you have billions?
What return can they get from a $36M investment that the other $964M cannot get?
Why do they have to pay people to put these PR's on public boards but no money for creditors?
Where is the BANK STATEMENT?
Where is their office?
Where is their staff?
Where is their anything?
Who is the bank manager at the specific bank they have the $1B?
What is his or her name and contact info?
I would be interested in calling them!
Why no press releases to big media?
Pump and Dump scam artist Hillard and Pals are slowly being squeezed by the market.
I wonder why they have to keep paying for false and fraudulent PR statements?
I wonder why they tell their creditors and friends they have no money, and have to stay with other people instead of a fancy hotel when traveling?...and at the same time claim $88Million here, and $1 Billion there.
I would expect this from children imagining a world where they are rich. Unfortunately they make money on lies and ignorance.
I am glad they are as low as their stock value.
I love how they put up fancy graphics and big words on their site and this site but have no office, no staff, no salaries, no previous sales history, no infrastructure to back any of it up.
On top of all that, Hillard and Sohail don't KNOW anything about what they are offering. They are as clueless as Paris Hilton would be trying to explain the theory of quantum tunneling.
Congratulations Hillard, you managed to ruin the life of hundreds of people, so that you can hide in a house in LV and pretend to be a big shot.
Hillard is a consummate Loser, always pointing fingers and blaming others, never trying or being modest. I am clapping, because you are a failure and so is BGMO and if I were related to either of you I would seriously consider turning you in.
Invest in BGMO and you are investing in CRIME
BB Solar: A Summary:How Bergamo Failed to meet their end of the bargain and lied about EVERYTHING: Read on!
This is an objective, unbiased account of the last year for The Big Leaf and Rahi Tajzadeh. No NDA was ever signed by Rahi or Bergamo or any parties therein. All accounts can be backed with email and affidavits as needed.
Note that most emails will not be listed in this report…but I can safely say that none of the emails I received were sent confidentially…rather there were often stakeholders CC’d on emails.
I own The Big Leaf, a solar energy R&D company in Ontario Canada, which was focused on designing a proprietary solar generator (existing technology), and innovations in solar business modeling.
To pay for the bills at The Big Leaf I held a 9-5 job as an IT Technical Analyst, making a conservative $4,000 a month, and lived at home with mom and dad, while frequently visiting my girlfriend who lived 60km (30m) away.
A great friend of mine introduced me through his acquaintance to Sohail Parekh in Late Summer of 2011. In the first telephone conversation I was told that Bergamo is a $400 Million company that acquires existing businesses and finances their sales and operations as needed.
Sohail said that he needs a company that can sell solar energy equipment, systems, water pumps etc. in Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, and some African Countries.
I made it clear that The Big Leaf does NOT have experience in those countries but CAN design systems for use there, and is happy to work on building the necessary infrastructure to develop full sales and support in said regions...but that we would need funding, and Marketing in these regions, even as a Canadian company, is difficult and potentially expensive.
Sohail said that this is exactly what Bergamo does, they fund companies like ours, and that they have enough social and political ties in those regions that the sales will be basically set up ahead of time.
He asked me to give him details on water pumping solar systems and prices, and that he is interested in working with me exclusively…except for one other solar water pump company that is supplying them, owned by a guy named Steve. (I never found out what the company name was or who Steve was).
By July 22 of 2011 I had already sent my first email to Sohail asking for more details such as water requirements (litres per day, per hour, pump power [W or hp], well depth, etc.)
They replied promptly and answered my questions but it was clear that the answers were not given by engineers, rather business people, because the specifications seemed to change over time. (more on that later).
A few days later Sohail asked me to quote Solar Generators for home use, ranging from 10kW to 50kW, including maximum monthly supply available from suppliers, how many parts / complete systems can fit in a 40’ container etc. The email made it seem like large orders would be placed and that a JIT system or conservative sales estimates for market penetration and year over year growth were not being considered for whatever reason.
I offered an NDA to Bergamo but they claimed that we would sign their NDA in a telephone conversation (never happened), and sent the first of many proposals, quotes, presentations, etc. The proposal I sent was to fund The Big Leaf as a system provider to Pakistan, India, etc., as well as developing its own IP (the Clover…can’t say anything about this, sorry!).
The proposal was 17 pages considering I had less than a week to complete it, and they thanked me for the proposal but never spoke of it again.
A few days later I was asked to quote more systems, this time for buildings (apartment, business, etc.). Ranging from 5kW – 50kW. Again I replied with quotes.
Bergamo sent me a detailed email on: “The procedure of the Finance for Proposed Financing of The Big Leaf.”. In their own words. The email stated that:
***
I already had sent a proposal, and now they wanted a full business plan, which made sense to me, but the viability portion of the email had me concerned, and in telephone conversations Sohail told me that he can get us sales far beyond the $500M mentioned, and all we need to do is run the business while he accommodates sales.
I sent a detailed email indicating what technologies we work with, and why our IP is worth their investment, and that we are in the process of completing a short business plan (20-30 pages). By this time I was hard at work arranging suppliers and the business plan.
By August 15th we had sent a detailed quote on multiple systems to Bergamo.
***
I sent this email to Sohail:
Sohail,
I noticed that Bergamo is already offering solar pumps (some look like they are on a tracker) for about $3 / Watt installed.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/
If they are not connected to a solar tracker and do not have batteries then of course we can provide a system that does. But if this is your cost including a tracker then we must re-evaluate our quote, as we have been using average industry prices to be conservative (under promise and over perform).
If there is no tracker then we can be of assistance to provide systems with trackers and we can work together to attain the best PV panel cost which it looks as though you already are getting!
Furthermore I know of a manufacturer that may be able to beat almost any PV cost and still provide excellent warranty and performance and quality.
Let me know what you think…I am still preparing the summary business plan.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
By September 2nd we sent a 4 page detailed quote on 80 systems (PV and CPV) that we felt would do well in the markets mentioned above.
***
On September 7th another email came my way from Sohail, with a powerpoint of solar tube well systems with Bergamo’s name on the presentation, as though it was their systems…but the images were from online resources. The email asked me to make a comparison to these products and Sohail said in a telephone conversation that this was “Steve’s Company”.
Here is the email (note the misspelling of my name):
A further email indicated that my SUPPLIER is to bear the cost of a demo in Pakistan:
By September 6th a Presentation was also sent to Bergamo for The Big Leaf’s new venture with Bergamo.
By September 9th I had a presentation to match the one Sohail sent me on the water pumping systems from “Steve” with Bergamo written all over the presentation. It is safe to say that by this time I was spending any waking moment I had on this venture because I was led to believe that Bergamo is the real deal.
I spoke with Sohail and Hillard a few times in September where Hillard proceeded to yell at me and say my prices are too high…which didn’t make sense to me because the prices were industry average and included a 1 axis tracker and installation, which other quotes “Steve” did not have. Also the quotes I sent were about 15%-25% above what they wanted, which is exactly how much MORE ELECTRICITY is generated when you install a 1 axis tracker in Pakistan (exact numbers are 15%-18% but that depends on exact location).
Revised presentations were sent with updated prices.
I was sent an email with a sample Letter of Intent (note the spelling mistakes), which I did not agree to because of the contents. Here are some of the contents in the sample LOI which was sent with no NON DISCLOSURE clauses:
***
Note that Bergamo wanted PROPRIETARY RIGHTS to the products which was completely unacceptable.
Furthermore let me make it clear that Sohail and Hillard told me that the role of having 2 companies go to demo in Pakistan (The Big Leaf and Steve’s company) was to instill a feeling of competition or at least to make it seem like multiple bids were being placed and that there was real competition, when in fact Bergamo wanted the profits (60% or more) from both companies. I felt very uneasy but was reassured that this is the way business with governments works.
Whenever I mentioned lawyers Sohail asked me to keep them out of things as it would be too expensive. On multiple telephone conversations this occurred, especially in relation to the LOI.
By October 2nd, I had not signed their LOI and they were pushing me with emails like the following:
***
Please note that the email states that “other” company is ready to demo in two weeks. Sohail pressured me to get a demo to Pakistan ASAP and sign the LOI.
I responded saying that I can present in Pakistan in Late November at the earliest, and that we cannot INSTALL the demo in Pakistan as we have no infrastructure there to do so, nor did we have a confirmed demo site.
By October 6th a pro forma income statement with viable sales figures was emailed to Sohail. He responded with an “OK”.
October 13th, Sohail sent me 6+ photos of supposed Bergamo officers with top government officials. Sohail, Hillard, and at least one recognizable government official are in one picture, with the rest being people I do not know. The email that the pictures came with had nothing written in it.
A phone call from Sohail followed where he indicated that the government officials are “My people, my friends from childhood…”, and that I was not to worry about getting any sales in Pakistan, India, etc., and that getting the sales is Bergamo’s job, while running the business was my job.
I received a pleasant letter to Bergamo from a minister in Pakistan indicating that he is very interested in seeing the demo in “Late November or earlier”, and that Bergamo has their support. This minister will not be named in this report, but I will call him John Doe.
Hillard sent me an email on October 22 with their competitors systems listed, most were made with Chinese components which are the most cost effective right now.
A new LOI was drafted and the suggestion of a new venture was made in an email by Sohail:
***
I was working with them on the LOI when this email arrived:
(more systems were listed in the email but this is a good sample).
***
By November 15th I was scheduled to fly to meet Hillard and Sohail in Nevada some time around my birthday (nov 22).
***
By this time we had a business plan, system quoting tools, suppliers set up, and staff ready to work.
Also by this time I was under the impression that a Late November trip was expected, even though I knew it was impossible without travel VISAs and other accommodations…so I suggested December.
Note that by this time I had already blocked off my vacation time from my 9-5 job because over multiple telephone conversations Sohail asked me to be ready to present in Late November.
Then I had to change that vacation time again to Late December, which Sohail agreed to over the phone.
Here is a sample of my emails to Sohail, to give you an idea of my mood:
Gentlemen,
Thank you for your ongoing support. I will reach an agreement with the **** brothers within a few days. In the meantime I am working on the solar generators you are asking for. I still require all the pertinent data for the attached visa application.
Sohail, can you provide me with a list of people and places I will present this generator to/in? I want to be prepared for these presentations so any important information is key. Also, I want to work together with BAC to share resources wherever possible (i.e. we need to outsource marketing rather than do it in house – including graphics, website, and videos). If you already have resources or contacts that would be ideal as it will help control costs.
I am putting together the team that will run BB Solar (Dir of Sales, Dir of Bus Development, CFO, etc.) and want to know how you wish me to set this up. Let’s discuss this further in emails.
We have much to do, and a great opportunity is ahead of us, let’s make the best of it!
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
So I went to Las Vegas, met Sohail and Hillard in Hillard’s house, and in his computer room we drafted the last copy of the LOI.
In that room I was told by Hillard that Bergamo owns many companies like GreenSafe Demanufacturing, and their core business is complementary acquisitions: he stated that Greensafe receives its raw materials for free via train, and on the return trip, the empty rail cars are filled with concrete which Bergamo’s subsidiary uses in New York to do road work. He made it sound very sophisticated and foolproof.
Hillard gave me a “portfolio” of companies that they claimed to own, including Greensafe, and asked me to “look through it” and see what they (Bergamo) really do. I did so and thanked them for showing me the “portfolio”.
I call it a “portfolio” because it was a seried of power point presentation slides with various company summaries, which were vague, far too short to mean anything, didn’t indicate any complementary business strategy, or even make me believe it was a real document at all…it seemed like random powerpoint slides…I did not take heed of that red flag.
Later on that same “portfolio” was emailed to me as Bergamo’s business plan, where I was to add BB Solar to the random group of slides. Where Dr. Ghaus’s airplane company also was added. (look up Dr. Ghaus if you want).
Sohail told me that Hillard really likes me and that this will be a great business relationship and that The Big Leaf / BB Solar will receive full funding.
Here is a nice email from Sohail after we signed an LOI in Nevada, in Hillards house, on my birthday (note the spelling mistakes):
A few days later I received a call from Sohail indicating Bergamo received $1B and that he wanted ME to contact my local news stations and newspapers to spread the news. I received this email:
***
No details in the email other than the above link were present. No details were made clear to me about the origins, nature, or form of the $1B. I did not contact any news organizations as I felt the information was not credible.
***
By November 30th, Sohail was still not clear on what system and what prices he wanted in the demo, and I received this email:
***
I asked Sohail in a telephone conversation to stop posting on the website and on press releases or radio shows that any of the systems provided are “proprietary” as they were / are not. Solar Systems are pieced together using off the shelf components 95% of the time. It is rare that a technology company install its own solar systems save for CPV systems (SolFocus, Morgan Solar etc.).
By November 30th I was ready to go to and present in Pakistan around December 20, IF the equipment could be shipped ASAP. It was not, because of Bergamo’s inability to get us necessary details:
By December 6th it was apparent that the December trip was to be delayed again. For one I could not get an address to ship my components to (Sohail was to provide all accommodations for the demo in Pakistan), nor a receiver’s name, nor any details on the press conference for the demo which they promised, nor the list of people I would be presenting to, nor the expected sales for the first trip (other than Sohail’s telephone promises of “More sales that you can handle!”).
I received this email on December 6th:
***
The email was encouraging but I had to delay my vacation time block at my 9-5 job AGAIN to late January which upset my boss very much, but Sohail assured me over the phone that by then everything will be set.
By December 4th I had a full presentation ready for the press conference in Pakistan, complete with speech, music, and powerpoint / handouts.
By this time I still had not received Visa Application information, consignee information, press conference information, accommodation information, “Steve’s” company’s updates (where are they, why are they not in the picture, are they still going with me?, etc.)
Regarding the above email, I was concerned that the importer wanted 50% of the profits indefinitely. Sohail emailed me this response and called me indicating the profit sharing with the importer was a one time thing:
***
My response:
I am happy to split with the distributor this one time…but in the future we cannot split profits! You are giving away 50% of our markup? That means the effective markup for each system is 50%, not 100%. If we split, it is the same as saying Bergamo gets 30% of GP and Big Leaf gets 20% of GP, and not the LOI’s quote of 60% and 40%.
Distributors can take a cut but 50% is unjustified.
***
Then more red flags. Sohail claimed the demo will take place early January, when shipping takes weeks, and he sends me an email indicating that the profit margins on the systems he asked me to send in the email above should only be $1,000…which to me sounds like dishonest business practice because the DISTRIBUTOR / IMPORTER would set the final retail price…
I was ok with this happening one time, but was uncomfortable in general:
The low markup is fine for this container and I agree that we have to take this hit to demo.
I have no objections with it at all.
I just want to clarify that distributors in the FUTURE will not take 50% of the profit.
This container’s distributor is free to take 50% of the profit.
Good?
Rahi.
***
And this email from me as well:
Just to confirm what I will be quoting:
20’ container
1. 25% of which is DC water pump system with panels, pump, and control box.
2. 25% of which is AC water pump system with panels, pump, control box, and inverter.
3. 50% of which will be filled EVENLY with:
a. 5KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
b. 10KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
c. 20KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
d. 30KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
e. 50KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
Markup will be $1,000 per Water Pump System.
Markup will be $1,000 per 2KV for Generators (i.e. 10KV system has a $5,000 markup which is about 17% markup, and the 20KV system has a $10,000 markup which is about 9% markup)
Profits will be split with distributor for this one container.
Shipment will be for February 4-8th 2012.
As for how many systems we can fit into the container I have to wait for the suppliers response, which will include the final price.
Sounds good?
***
Since Sohail wanted a demo in Early January, I switched my vacation from late January with another colleague to early January, upsetting my boss again, and I put pressure on Sohail to get me shipping details because shipping from china can take weeks.
He replied with this email:
Ship To
Mr. Mujtaba Ghaus
***
I responded with:
Can I use the same address for the VISA application?
Cheers!
Rahi.
, He replied : YES.
***
Still on December 6th I receive this email:
***
Note that Steve’s company is mentioned again.
I received an email which had a google document with Banca Intesa STA and $1B indicated…but I could not make sense of the document as it was not coherent or reliable in any way.
Another email indicated the ministers are looking forward to seeing us:
Mr. Rahi Tajzadeh and Mr. Dmytro Khimich
Attached Please Find Invitation Letter from Bergamo Global Energy Private Limited. We will need B/L for the Demo model that was shipped to Pakistan to get duty exemption from Goverment of Pakistan.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/ministers-letter/
Attached is link Invitation from Minister for Irrigation Mr. Jam Saif Ullah Khan. If you need any confirmation then the consulate office may contact his office directly.
Thanks
Sohail Parekh
www.bergamoenergy.com
***
Note the link points to a dead URL now.
***
Here is where the REAL trouble starts.
Shipping problems: Bill of landing issues, port authority issues, etc. Here is an email indicating the beginning of the problems, NONE of which was indicated by the actual port authority, rather Sohail’s contacts (most likely Dr. Ghaus).
***
More problems, and more people I do not know, and more issues that SHOULD have been cleared up or expected considering Bergamo’s supposed experience in Pakistan:
***
More delays, and I had to change my vacation block again:
***
From December 6th onwards this went on, all of it should have been easy to settle. By this time I had made a promotional video, website, presentations, handouts, systems were designed, suppliers set up,etc.
By December 27th I was becoming concerned about the timeliness of things, and I recognized a pattern:
Whenever I was concerned about something, or asked too many questions, Sohail or Hillard would ask me to come up with a new quote, usually very large systems, or to add BB Solar to their “Master File”.
NOTE: The Master File they sent me was the same as the powerpoint slide “portfolio” I saw in Hillards house (save for a few changes) and STILL AT THIS TIME included Greensafe, Suntrough, and Platinum Funding.
I still have this document of course, and they asked me to add BB Solar AND FALCON Airplane company…which made me question whether they had the resources to create even a single business plan for Bergamo…which I had not seen…
Also please note that this Master File was referred to by Sohail as Bergamo’s Business Plan.
Here is an email I received to give you an indication of what we are talking about:
***
I was sent Hillards Big Biz Radio Interview and put it on BB Solar’s site…but I was very concerned about his comments regarding equipment already being in Pakistan and things going well, even my retired mother felt this was dishonest.
Then Hillard emails me asking me to put the following on my BB Solar website:
on bbsolar.ca Web Site
Presentation Confirmation with the Minister to be held in Pakistan Jan 2nd, 2012 by Bergamo associates in Pakistan.
* Bergamo’s Joint Venture Partner’s to Arrange an event in Sindh Province ( Tando Allah Yar) at a Farm the gathering would be for 50 to 60 growers plus approx 40 to 50 guests from Media- Local Businessman and Government officials will be invited including local Member of Parliaments and Minister of that area local media will be invited to attend the demonstration.
*Lunch, Tea, Lecture session, demonstration and other related activities would be arranged at farm level.
Similar Event will take place in Indus Hotel Hyderabad.
Punjab Marriott Hotel, Pear Continental Hotel. And Guest will be taken to the demonstration site or brought back to the hotel for further details of possible sales.
Generators for Home's etc etc
Pumps for Tubewells
***
I did not because the dates are all wrong and there were details in the email that I was not aware of (for example which hotels, cities, etc.).
Then more shipping problems, needing original bill of landing etc…
On January 1st it seems to me that things with Dr. Ghaus changed such that he did not want to work with Sohail anymore, and I received this disturbing email indicating I shipped too early…when he wanted me in Pakistan in Late DECEMBER!!!!:
***
Note that all NECESSARY DOCUMENTS were eventually fedexed and telexed from China and that our supplier in China has NEVER had issues shipping components, nor did they understand the need for an original document instead of a fax, scan, email, etc.
Also note that Sohail gave me the shipping address of Dr. Ghaus, asking me to demo in EARLY JANUARY, knowing I cannot ship until I had the address and that shipping takes weeks.
Note that Bergamo did not take into account shipping time in general.
Note that I sent Bergamo emails indicating that I will be happy to pay the charges for shipping without original bill of landing, but they refused, and asked for Bill of Landing, Commercial Invoice, etc.
All of this shipping headache indicated to me that Bergamo’s acquaintances in Pakistan were not ready to receive large shipments. I am not sure why I continued from this point on…Perhaps it was the many many telephone conversations where Sohail told me he is my brother, and loves me, and will not let anything happen to me.
All of a sudden, on January 7th, everything seems fine with the shipping…here is an email from Sohail:
***
So things seemed fine…then the bill of landing which I FEDEXED to them from CHINA was not able to be received…it was addressed to Dr Ghaus, and Sohail told me that someone else (unknown who) went to pick it up and they have it and it is gone…
Chinese suppliers told me they do not have another original copy and that this is not reasonable in any sense.
Apparently a guy named Ali Mehmood picked up the bill of landing as per an email from Sohail on January 12…it is still missing at this point.
All documents were arranged by the Chinese suppliers despite the inconvenience and resent to Sohail’s contacts.
***
Once again to keep me quiet and ‘busy’ sohail sends me a document indicating that there will be a bridge built for $1B in Bangladesh (Sohail misspelled Bangladesh), and that he wants ME to put in a bid for it for Bergamo.
On the phone he said that Bergamo and The Big Leaf can run the operation for the bridge while a CHINESE company would do the work. We would act like middle men.
Here is the email:
***
Note that The Big Leaf and BB Solar are / were in no way ready to place a serious bid for the construction of a bridge.
I then receive this vague email from Sohail making claims that I could not stand by. He indicated that this will likely be a press release:
***
More emails were sent to me indicating Bergamo has $400 M… by this time (January 18th), a late January demo was out of the question and AGAIN I had to delay my vacation block at my 9-5 work.
This was the last time for my boss who did not renew my contract as a direct result of this, and even indicated to me “I’m sure you will do fine at your other job”.
***
From this point on (Jan 20), another name came into the picture, Waseem.
This email below from Sohail indicates that BERGAMO KNEW AND WAS ON BOARD WITH CHINESE PRODUCTS / COMPONENTS:
***
Then more trouble with Dr Ghaus who could not receive the products, would not accept me paying him for any fees he would pay, and not cooperating with anyone.
Finally after months of trouble, Sohail send me a link to the import rules for Pakistan…something that Dr. Ghaus should have done 90 days prior.
***
On January 25, I get this email which is vague and cryptic:
***
Again I comply and make the quotes but am not sure who Nasim is.
Sohail made it clear in multiple emails that I HAVE TO ALWAYS indicate that BB Solar is a JV Partner of Bergamo etc…even though no contract outside of an LOI was signed to indicate as such, and no ownership was transferred.
Note that Bergamo NEVER ONCE asked to sign a contract or transfer ownership, or write in the official documents that Hillard and Sohail and I are on the board of directors which is what they wanted.
Here is a sample email from Sohail:
***
Again I receive an email asking me to make another quote, this time for 950 pumps and 35000 gallons an hour.
I felt like they were just keeping me busy but since they never said who the quotes I am making are going to, or what the context is, or time frame etc. I felt like more was going on that I was led to believe.
By the end of January they still could not get my equipment out of customs, and whenever I wanted to intervene or just go to Pakistan to get it out myself, Sohail would tell me that these are “his people” and this is “his country” and he knows how things work.
I received this email:
***
The above is all that’s listed in the email…
Then another twist, this time Waseem and Nasim are named together, here is the email (note the spelling of my name is wrong again)
***
Here is Sohail trying to get something done about the shipping fiasco:
***
January 29th, Sohail emails me something he sent to Nasim and Waseem, regarding a 5MW solar powerplant. He asked me in a telephone conversation to make a quote for this system (even though it is CSP, and most likely the SunTrough deal that fell through).
By this time I had quoted the 950 pumps, the 500kW systems+, and made a generic price list for systems ranging from 5kW – 50MW+
One day later, Sohail asked me to quote solar powered cell phone towers.
I don’t think he realized the amount of work that goes into quoting systems, especially if they are new, such as solar cell towers.
I made a quote nevertheless in an effort to be a good partner.
Then I suggested to Sohail, in passing, that investing $1B+ in solar panels installed along the top 10 major highways in Pakistan could power much of Karachi.
Sohail jumped on it and asked me to make him an official quote. He said he sent the highway quote to the Alternative Energy Board.
By January 31st, we were supposed to transfer the name of the recipient on all shipments to Pacific Engineering, to clear up the customs issue.
Also the mounting equipment was lost completely at this time if I am not mistaken.
By this time I was also weary of Sohail’s contact in the Alternative Energy Board, Mr. Alaudin, who has critics claiming he is crooked. Also Sohail told me on multiple occasions that anything we bring into the country must go through Alaudin. This information turned out to not be correct according to people I eventually worked with in Pakistan.
Here is the email indicating I am to change recipient to Pacific Engineering:
***
Below is THE FIRST mention of components NOT made in China, and the email is in reference to the CELL PHONE TOWER systems, not the DEMO:
***
Then this cryptic email from Sohail asking that I set up ANOTHER company in Pakistan of which Saim and Waseem will be shareholders:
***
Needless to say the red flags were everywhere at this point.
Then things get more complex with this email:
***
The following email was from Sohail , dated January 31, 2012:
***
And another email from Sohail asking for more joint ventures in Pakistan…looked to me like Nasim and Waseem wanted a piece of the pie too:
***
Then more shipments went missing:
***
Kind emails were sent to Nasim and Waseem to accommodate my arrival:
***
Then I see this press release which was news to me, I had no idea another existing renewable energy company would be “working” with us:
SOLAR WIND PRIVATE LTD ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE FOR DEMONSTRATIONS IN PAKISTAN BEING DONE WITH BB SOLAR AND BERGAMO ACQUISITIONS
Karachi, Pakistan—March 15, 2012— Solar Wind Private LTD, with the support of BB Solar and Bergamo Acquisitions Corp. (OTC:BGMO), announced today the demonstrations of Solar Tube Pumping Systems and Solar Generators for home and cell phone towers on April 10, 2012 at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass Karachi and at their office 1 C Khaybane Shamsher Phase 5 D. H. A Karachi.
BB Solar can provide customized solutions and financing options to more customers than ever before, making the switch to Solar Energy easy and profitable. BB Solar, is a Canadian based Solar Energy Solutions Company. The company has strategically teamed up with The Big Leaf Inc. and Bergamo Acquisition Inc. to increase its ability to serve customers. Offering multiple types and technologies of solar systems, BB Solar plans to enter into various markets, and carve new niches.
BB Solar’s focus for Pakistan will include residential roof top and ground mounted solar, irrigation systems and water pumping, backup power and electricity, commercial and industrial electricity, government and military systems, and solar powered cellular phone towers.
Solar Power use saves the cost of diesel fuel or unreliable, unavailable grid power. The local population benefits from decreased pollution, local jobs created for installation and maintenance, and increased value in land. The Nation as a whole benefits as it can decrease the dependence on imported oil, as well as a decreased requirement to burn coal locally rather than sell it internationally.
For more information: www.bbsolar.ca
Contact: sales@bbsolar.ca
***
Another press release:
Karachi Pakistan March 15 2012, Mr. Waseem Ahmed C.E.O of Solar Wind pvt Ltd is glad to announce in collaboration with BB Solar Inc a Joint Venture Subsidiary Company of Bergamo Acquisition Corp ( OTC;BGMO ) a public limited company in U.S.A, will conduct demonstrations of solar tube well pumping systems, solar generators for domestic use, cell phone towers and various other energy required industries on April 10th 2012 onwards at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern By Pass Karachi.
There are currently 40 million tube well pumping systems in Pakistan that are being used at less than full capacity due to a power shortage of approximately 10,000 megawatts. Recognizing the benefits of solar powered energy generators the type developed by BB Solar Inc the country will meet its severely needed energy requirements by installing at least two to three million solar power generators engineered by BB Solar Inc.
The company's engineers have developed solar energy pumps in Canada, USA and China having capacities ranging from 6,000 liters per hour to 160,000 liters per hour and will significantly reduce the energy cost to the end user.It will not only meet the countries energy needs but will decrease pollution,dependence on imported oil,reduce the use of coal domestically rather than export to gain foreign exchange and finally create thousands of jobs for installation and maintenance of solar energy products, which is the basic mission of the current Government. To attend the demonstration a formal invitation will be extended to the heads of various concerned ministries and various important institutions.
***
By March 17th the equipment was at Mr. Waseem’s farmhouse, ready to be deployed and demonstrated.
I was sent pictures of the components in an email.
Here is an email from Sohail indicating that all seems well:
***
After I speak with Sohail, he wanted me to write for him a press release; because he stated that I write better than he does (I should have asked where his marketing team was). Then I get this email from Hillard, with the subject line: Use some words from here
***
Note that it refers to COMPANY ENGINEERS…which we did not have any at the time.
Then this release with more details:
BB Solar in conjunction with (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp and SolarWind Private Ltd are pleased to announce a demonstration of a customizable solar solution in a farm in Karachi, Pakistan.
The demo will include solar tube well pumping, and a solar generator (capable of powering homes, businesses or cellular phone towers). Thanks to the tireless efforts of our technical team, we are able to demonstrate all three solutions in early April.
BB Solar is sending its CEO Rahi Tajzadeh to Karachi on March 29th where he will work with the local team to arrange a full press conference at the demonstration site in early April. The site is located at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass in Karachi. The Installation of our product that arrived at the farm, Installation will commence from monday.
Formal invitations will be extended to heads of various ministries, important institutions, and military bodies to attend the demonstration.
This demonstration will illustrate the versatility of BB Solar in system design and solution implementation in the solar industry. Given that there are Millions of tube wells in Pakistan, most of which are powered by diesel generators and unreliable AC power, the market for solar tube well pumping ranges from $10B USD - $200B USD over the next 5-10 years.
When looking at solar systems for electricity generation, the market is even larger: Since residential, commercial, industrial, government, and military bodies are all potential customers of solar electricity systems, the market ranges from $100B USD - $400B USD over the next 10 years.
There are over 40,000 cellular phone towers in Pakistan alone, each of which requires an average of 3kW of reliable power. Our solar generators, along with batteries, can provide uninterrupted power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We predict that the total value of this market ranges from $750M USD - $1.4B USD over the next 5 years.
BB Solar is working with SolarWind Private Ltd to capture a significant portion of these markets. We are aiming at acquiring 10%-20% of the solar tube well pumping market within 5 years, 10%-15% of solar energy generators within 5 years, and 25%-33% of the solar powered cellular phone towers within 5 years. We plan on achieving these goals via the following value added benefits that we provide our customers:
- Customized solutions instead of catalogue sales
- Free ABC and TLC analysis for each major customer
- We have multiple suppliers and technologies at the ready to better meet your needs
- Our solutions are either made in Canada, USA, or China to provide more flexibility in requirements or budget
- We provide solutions from $5,000USD - $100M+ and anything in between
- We use locally sourced sales, distribution, installation, and maintenance professionals, thereby increasing the total value to the local community
Our pumping systems can generate 6,000 litres – 160,000 litres per hour, and the flexibility of our system design allows the customer to dictate what they receive. Our solar generators come in multiple technologies and various configurations whether you are an individual home owner, farmer, or military commander, you can rely on our ability to meet your specific needs!
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
By March 20th I had my flight booked as the team in Pakistan told me all was set up and Nasim and Waseem knew of my arrival date and time.
I get this email a day later from Sohail:
***
More confirmation of things supposedly going well:
***
Up until the day before I left, everything with Nasim and Waseem seemed OK, here is an exchange indicating as such:
Gentlemen,
It is an absolute pleasure that our plans are finally complete and things are moving! I am thrilled to visit Karachi and meet each and every one of you. Before I get to my agenda I want to make our goals very clear:
BB Solar’s Goal in general, is to get as much sales as possible in solar energy and pumping systems, through the help of SolarWind Private LTD and AEDB. But if you want to know what our minimum requirements are, 360 complete systems / year is reasonable. I know that it may be very easy or very hard to reach 30 systems / month, but let’s aim for at least this volume!
My agenda is very simple:
1. Test the system in Karachi successfully and let it run for a few days.
2. Meet with as many important persons as we can to prepare them for the presentation.
3. Trial run – Perform the presentation and press conference once with no one there to ensure everything works.
4. Press Conference / Presentation takes place.
5. We get orders for BB Solar Inc. via SolarWind Private Ltd. and AEDB
My visit is scheduled for 7 – 10 days, or however long it is necessary to stay for the agenda to be complete.
As for the missing components, I believe you are referring to the mounting hardware: the rails and clamps that hold down the panels. I am trying to source them locally, but if we do not find it or are not able to mount the panels another way, I can have China ship another set to Pacific Engineering’s address or another address of your choice. This should not be absolutely necessary for the presentation but can help a lot.
I have sent you 2 pumps (1 is a backup in case the other one fails), and 3,000W of panels, and a 2,000 inverter. This is enough equipment to demo a Solar Generator, and a Solar Water Pumping System using the same components.
I am very happy to see the progress and am very thankful to Mr. Nasim and Mr. Waseem for their hospitality!
Once again I arrive at ~2:30 AM on March 29th in Karachi.
I look forward to a successful endeavour and thank you all for your time.
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
Subject: Re: Rahi Arriving 2.35 Pm Karachi FLT# 0221 Etihad Airlines
Rahi
Kindly send us your complete visit plan and duration of visit as well with agenda.
We understand that you will also need time to do the piping work for the pump and connection to solar panels.Kindly note that end connectors for solar panels are not available locally.We are trying to mechanically fix the solar panels at a suitable location to save time.
The necessary cabling,piping to s-pump will be done when you are here.
We only have some solar cells,two pump and a 2kw invertor.
Nasim / Waseem
When I arrived in Pakistan, Mr Waseem was supposed to have a driver pick me up, take me to a guest house, set me up with an office, phone and internet, and take me to the demo site at the very least.
No one showed up at the airport at 3 am…or 4 am…I was stranded. I went to Marriott hotel on my own funds (the LOI was clear that Bergamo was to make ALL NECESSARY ACCOMMODATIONS for SALES TO TAKE PLACE).
The entire trip consisted of me running around trying desperately to salvage the trip. I set up a relationship between The Big Leaf and a local company (The REFUSED TO WORK WITH BERGAMO after they were told by Sohail that Bergamo needs to buy a Pakistani bank before they can do anything with Solar…which was news to me). That company and I set up importing and delivery and installation infrastructure, as well as sales and marketing infrastructure…none of which could be useful if not funded! Which bergamo promised to do… … they did not.
I met the Minister of the province and his brother…both were wonderful people and VERY friendly! They took me out to dinner and I visited their estate in a village outside Sukur. The minister made it clear to me that ANY solar generator is too expensive when compared to diesel generators, REGARDLESS of the lower operating / maintenance costs, and that Sohail made a mistake in thinking that the minister would or could buy the systems. (more on this later).
I get this email from Sohail:
***
From this point on Nasim and Waseem do not talk to me, other than 1 email from Nasim saying that he did NOT invite me and is NOT interested in talking to me at all.
Sohail was fuming and called him *&%^&*% even in an email to Waseem, who is friends with Nasim!
I was stuck with no demo, no guest house, no office, and only a few thousand I brought in case of emergency.
This email was sent to Waseem:
***
Note that I personally did not offer the demo as a gift to Waseem UNLESS he let me use his guest house, the demo site for a press conference, etc.
The following press release was issued sometime in April, I was asked to write it for Bergamo and I was stuck in a hotel room in Pakistan with a return ticket one month away and not enough money to stay that long.
Sohail made it clear to me that I HAVE to indicate a successful demo, and that he will pay me my losses.
BB Solar Inc. progress update in Pakistan
Marriott Hotel, Karachi Pakistan, April 2nd, 2012. (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp is pleased to update its shareholder CEO of BB Solar Inc Mr. Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with warm and enthusiastic support. We have already found a local marketing and distribution company to work with which will make our sales, import, support, installation, distribution, and maintenance programs less costly and less complicated. Our demo has been installed in a local farm and we are on our way to take photographs and video of it in action. Our demo was an example of our economy line of solar water pumping systems, and we have already sold it within the first week. We spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and have come to the conclusion that high quality 5kW – 25kW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell in this burgeoning country. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German components. The potential market size here for 5kW – 25kW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. The people here are used to getting less than they paid for in terms of service and quality, and almost no post-purchase support. This is an opportunity for BB Solar to take the market by storm as we focus on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program. Our partner companies The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp are excited at our move to enter the Pakistani market and eVP Sohail Parekh is very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. As we sold our first demo in less than four days we decided not to hold a press conference until our CEO Rahi Tajzadeh returns with an American or German made 20kW system which is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan we are arranging a large press conference for this 20kW system which will take place by the end of the season, or early summer.
Looking forward to growing our company and working with you: BB Solar Inc.
BB Solar Inc.
Sales@BBSolar.ca
Rahi@BBSolar.ca
1-416-884-8033
Marriott Hotel 3 5680111 Room 705.
***
Another press release they sent out…with my name misspelled AGAIN.
Bergamo Acquisition Corp Provides Update on BB Solar, Inc. Project in Pakistan
Karachi Pakistan -April 2, 2012- Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC: BGMO) announced today that BB Solar, Inc., joint venture subsidiary company’s CEO, Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with enthusiastic support. The company is establishing local marketing and distribution centers to assist in its sales, import, support, installation, distribution , and maintenance which will enable a much economical and less complicated program.
BB Solar CEO Mr. Rahi Tajzada has spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and has come to the conclusion that high quality 5KW to 25KW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German products. The potential market size here for 5KW to 25KW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3,000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. BB Solar has an opportunity to become the dominant player in the market as it focuses on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program which is important to the people of Pakistan. BB Solar’s partner companies, The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp, are enthused and fully supportive at entering the Pakistani market.
Sohail Parekh, Sr. Executive Vice President of Bergamo, stated, “We are very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. Since we have decided to offer higher quality Canadian, US and German product instead of Chinese products which are flooded in the market due to which BB Solar’s CEO, Rahi Tajzadeh will return with an American or German made 20KW system in the next few weeks.The 20KW system is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan, we will be arranging a press conference for this 20KW system to take place by the end of the season or early summer. Currently Mr. Rahie Tajzada is conducting meetings with various Governmental and private authorities while researching proper energy requirement for the country, specially punjab Government is offering subsidies for energy projects.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For further information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
Sohail send me an email with the subject line “Useful points for Rahi” which he wrote, and CLEARLY INDICATES CHINESE COMPONENTS as well as Canada / USA.
***
More press releases with known lies in them, which I made clear to them are not true in telephone conversations:
BERGAMO ACQUISITION’S BB SOLAR CEO COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL TRIP
TO PAKISTAN
Henderson, NV-April 17, 2012-Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC:BGMO) announced today that BB Solar CEO Rahi Tajzadeh has returned from a successful trip to Karachi Pakistan. A Marketing, Importing, Distribution, and Sales partner in Karachi with the ability to reach all of Pakistan was established. Having spent two weeks engaging in discussions with local leaders and provincial ministers, as well as local business owners, farmers, irrigation designers and managers, Rahi has spotted a market opportunity ready to grow in a region with plenty of sunshine and heavy substitute costs.
The bread and butter of this market is the 5KW-25KW systems, although special projects like DHA City present a wonderful prospect for large market gains. Currently customers are used to, but tired of lackluster post purchase support, catalogue sales techniques, limited sources of products, and difficult warranty processes, all of which BB Solar can alleviate. With subsidies from the local government and other NGO’s, the support of the local community, and a value added approach to business practices, BB Solar is poised to achieve a significant market share within a few years. 300 – 3000 systems annually, ranging from 5KW–25KW are estimated once Marketing is established, and the supply chain is running smoothly inside Pakistan.
Various entities in and around Karachi and in the Punjab Province have requested a larger 20KW demonstration for irrigation and off grid home use. There is also a demand for hybrid solar and wind energy systems which BB Solar’s parent, R&D company, The Big Leaf is working on. These systems can increase the total efficiency of the usable land for energy generation with no carbon emissions. BB Solar is also working on a tender for DHA City in at least one of their solar energy projects, which range from 1-10MW. BB Solar is in talks with a very special, specialized, value added supplier for proprietary technology in the tender and if the supplier can agree to terms, a competitive advantage can be achieved.
BB Solar is sending quotes to interested parties and is aiming at 3 – 30 systems by quarter end.
Updates on the next visit to Pakistan will be made available on the websites as they develop.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For more information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
Contact:
For Sales and General Inquiries Contact Us
Email: SALES@BBSOLAR.CA
Purchasing: RAHI@BBSOLAR.CA
Business Development: DIMITRY@BBSOLAR.CA
Special Rate Inquiries: TERESSA@BBSOLAR.CA
Financing Options: WWW.BERGAMOENERGY.COM
Fax: 1-905-763-1213 (please email us before you fax)
Bergamo Acquisition Corp.
President & Director
hillardherzog@bergamocorp.com
www.bergamocorp.com
www.bergamoenergy.com
http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy
or
Investor Relations:
The Eversull Group, Inc.
Jack Eversull, President, 972-571-1624
Fax: 214-469-2361
jack@theeversullgroup.com
***
By May 11 I am back in Toronto, out of money, a job, and my mother’s retirement savings…all of which Sohail PERSONALLY stated he will reimburse me on MULTIPLE telephone conversations with WITNESSES who I will be getting affidavits from.
Then I get this email with more cryptic references to potential contracts:
***
Then I get this email from Sohail, indicating that the same minister who told me the systems are too expensive (regardless of the supplier or country of origin) wants to purchase systems again…:
***
By July 17th, I was aware that Bergamo could not meet the requirements of the LOI in any form or any of the claims they made about their business. It was evident to me that they did not care too much about my success because in hindsight, to enter into the Pakistani solar market as an external entity it would take far more money and time than they thought possible, as well as complete business infrastructure which they did not seem to be interested in at all. They never asked about things like “where do you store systems” “Do you use JIT?” “how will you market and to whom?” “who will provide the post purchase service and maintenance and how?” “how will warranty and RMA requests be handled?” “what software / package will you use for monitoring?”
These questions were to be figured out AFTER a QUICK sale was made to “Sohail’s People”. This way we could get funding to figure out all these questions and more (after all the business plan I wrote was not an OPERATIONAL business plan, which would be hundreds of pages long, I wrote a summary business plan which is reasonable for a quick sale).
As the days went on, Sohail made it CLEAR to me, to our mutual contacts, and to my mother (through me) that ALL LOSSES will be REIMBURSED by Bergamo and that they STILL want to do business with me.
I asked to be paid in certified cheque or stock, and they claimed that they would send me and out mutual contact to Las Vegas, first class, to arrange the payment.
Nothing happened for “TWO WEEKS”…this went on for MONTHS.
Finally by August Sohail claimed that end of August is fine for a visit.
By the End of August, nothing happened.
In telephone conversations with our mutual contacts on the line, Sohail claimed that BERGAMO and HE do NOT HAVE MONEY to pay me and that Sohail even owes his lawyers $50,000.
I made it clear that they, as a PUBLIC company are claiming MILLIONS in profits / earnings, and that either he is lying to us or to shareholders, and either way he and Hillard are paying their bills somehow.
They constantly say they are travelling to England, Singapore, New York, LA, etc. but claim that they have NO MONEY to pay me.
Sohail said on the phone with witnesses that “Rahi, as god as my witness, I am a god fearing man, and as soon as I have the money to pay you your losses I will. What kind of a RUTHLESS man do you think I am that I would be okay with your mother losing her retirement savings? And I will pay you PERSONALLY, because my partner Hillard would object to Bergamo paying you for MY (Sohail’s) MISTAKES in Pakistan”.
I Promptly replied “If an IBM Vice President makes a mistake and IBM loses $1M, does the Vice President pay from his own pocket for the loss? Does that even make any sense?”
I asked that Bergamo pay me and Sohail pay me, but that the total is the amount I was asking for.
Sohail agreed many times to me and our mutual contact and both of us at once that I will be reimbursed for losses as a result of Bergamo’s inability to meet the requirements of the LOI.
Soon thereafter he stopped talking to me (by now its late August) , telling out mutual contact that he has nothing to say to me, and that he is working on getting the money and that it will be any day now.
Since then I waited patiently, then when the time came that I had given them to respond to my pleas for humanity and good business practice.
Here is just a sample from as early as May!
Sohail,
I will address your concerns in order:
1. What are these tGOP interests and what size of systems and how many do they want and when? My prices are as low as they come.
2. BGMO and BB Solar have not signed a shareholder agreement, thus BGMO cannot demand that we stop spending money or do anything until that is signed…but let me assure you that we are NOT spending any money because I am bankrupt as it is.
3. Terms of delivery and service of any sales are the property of BB Solar until a shareholder agreement is signed.
4. USAID is expired as far as we know and even if it was not, the increase in cost for US components is almost as much as the savings to the customers.
5. The MOU we signed was actually an LOI and not a contract, and BGMO has not met the requirements we laid out for you in that LOI. Therefore a new agreement must be made, because the existing LOI’s terms were not met and it is voided.
6. We are happy to come and visit you and Hillard in Vegas to discuss our next step, at your cost (again I am bankrupt), but before that happens we need to be paid for the expenses incurred to date and that Sohail has promised over the phone to me and both *** brothers (to date it is $58,000 CDN). Once my costs are covered and my parents’ money is returned, then we will visit Vegas to discuss our mutually successful future.
7. Please let me know who your auditors and accountants / experts are who will evaluate our proposals, as we need to make sure they meet our requirements.
We are getting lots of response from Pakistan and Babar is doing a great job getting our name out there. We are already competing for more than one 20kW system and sales are inevitable. What needs to happen next is that Bergamo reimburses me the costs that I have incurred, or at least the costs over and above the cost of the demo ($52,300).
Furthermore, I want to remind you that on more than one occasion we were promised reimbursement of our expenses, and full financing for operations, over the phone by Sohail and have no doubt that he will deliver on his welcoming promise.
Once my parents are reimbursed, we can move forward and come to Vegas, share sales information, sign a new agreement / LOI / MOU, and a shareholder agreement.
Thank you,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
****
Here is another email from me to them:
Sohail,
I am doing my best to defend Bergamo but your investors are bombarding my email and message boards. This is going to hurt The Big Leaf as well if we do not say something to them about our meeting or the funding.
I will continue to defend BGMO and tell people that I am patient.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Do we not have any updates at all?
You (Sohail) are treating me like a dog or a peasant that is only good for free work.
What did I do to you to deserve this treatment?
Remember each time you asked me to come up with a quote or an analysis or a letter or a website change? I did all those things. Remember when I asked that you repay me the amount you said you would? Nothing happened. You stopped talking to me.
Why are you doing this?
I know you and Hillard have money. I am not stupid Sohail. You cannot live in Las Vegas and pay for accountants and airplane trips around the world without having money.
I am not asking for $1,000,000 or some outrageous amount. I am asking you to put me back to where I was before you and Bergamo made me lose it all out of the inability to meet some simple requirements in our LOI.
What more do you want from me, the world, the **** brothers?
What are you waiting for? I don’t want $1B, I want my losses covered.
Time to be a man.
RSVP
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 5:15 PM
To: 'Rahi Tajzadeh'
Cc: sohailbergamo@aol.com
Subject: your compensation
Hi Rahi
Just finished a detailed conversation with Sohail who himself is earnest to get this resolved, and make sure you get paid.
According to Sohail they are in the last lap of their efforts to get the funding in place and every body would know because they will have a press release for public knowledge.
He has not blocked your email s but does not want to respond as he has nothing more to say
Sohail assured me that it is a matter of time and would appreciate if you could exercise patience as this will help him a lot to focus on the issue. My younger brother is on the same page as myself
Appreciate your cooperation and I also need a break for a couple of days as this is getting stressful for myself also.
Let us have a positive outlook and sincerely hope Sohail will do the needful to fulfill his obligations
Bye for now
***
And another from me:
Sohail and Hillard.
My next step is to issue an official invoice for my work and losses due to the inability of Bergamo to meet the requirements of the LOI.
This is because you are NOT answering my emails, or text messages, and feel that ignoring me will make me go away.
I give you 1 day to reply and arrange payment of my fees and losses as you agreed over the phone.
I know you both have millions of shares, and money, and invoicing is my next step.
I truly wish it would not come to this but you seem to feel that I am stupid or naïve.
The invoice is below and I will officially issue it to you tomorrow if you do not reply TODAY.
Rahi
Here is where I drew a line in the sand:
Sohail, Hillard,
I asked you yesterday in an email which was delivered to each of your email addresses to please reply and confirm you received the email and to respond to continuing requests to reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you will do.
I asked that you reply before today otherwise I would officially issue the invoice.
You did not reply and I am forced to issue the invoice and take this to the next level.
Let me remind you that you brought me to this point by:
- Lying about owning Greensafe and other companies when I met you in November 2011.
- Knowingly lying in press releases and BigBiz radio show about BB Solar’s progress in Pakistan (i.e. “we had a successful demo and it is already up and running”).
- Not meeting the requirements of the LOI and leaving me stranded in Pakistan.
- Not being able to set up the demo and having it STOLEN by “your people”.
- Lying to me about saving me money on hotel and airfare costs.
- Lying to me about quotes and system designs that you didn’t ever follow up on (at least 6 times): why would you ask me to make you various system quotes without an RFP or any EVIDENCE that there are customers.
- Lying to me about having an office.
- Lying to me about your financial situation “we do not have money” and at the same time telling shareholders that you do have money.
- Lying on your financial statements about earning $80 Million, but not having enough to reimburse me $60,000+.
- Lying about knowing government officials, and other “guaranteed sales” like hospital owners, business owners, etc.
- Lying about ***** paying for my hotel.
- Lying about your (Sohail) sister saving me money on my hotel.
- Lying about Babar Mirza and his father about saving me money on my hotel.
- Losing the trust of Babar and his Father (they do not want to do any business with you as they do not trust you at all).
- Lying about bribing government officials to “get us easy sales” which is illegal.
The invoice is below as a picture, and attached as a separate file.
My next step, if you ignore me, is to go to a collections agency and take legal action.
I will also make sure that ALL OF YOUR SHAREHOLDERS know about the ENTIRE story of BB Solar and Bergamo INCLUDING Hillard KNOWINGLY lying about BB Solar, The Big Leaf, Bergamo, and our mutual progress, which is VERY ILLEGAL.
I have no problems with letting the WHOLE WORLD know what is happening from an objective point of view, telling my story of losing my savings, my job, my mother’s retirement money, and my girlfriend.
Obviously you have money and stock which you could have paid me with, but now I will ONLY accept a certified cheque or wire transfer.
All you had to do, was set up a simple press conference, and ensure that Nassim and Wassim would not STEAL my equipment, and make sure I had the accommodations that you claimed I would have in Pakistan…but you failed to meet ALL of the requirements of the LOI.
You made another mistake by saying on the phone three times, with Malik and Shakir Malik as witnesses (which I will get an affidavit from them) about you, Sohail, personally paying me back all of my losses…which means that if Bergamo ignores this email and invoice as well, I will legally go after you Sohail personally.
What you do in the next 24 hours will determine what kind of men you are, Hillard and Sohail.
The mistake of thinking that I am an idiot or so naïve is very wrong.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
After this Sohail called me and told me to go F*&K myself, while telling our mutual contact that he STILL wants to pay me.
Here is another email from me:
Sohail, Hillard,
It has not been a week since I sent you an invoice and was yelled at by Sohail and told to “go f $k myself”.
I am giving you another chance to redeem yourselves as honest, good businessmen.
You have an opportunity to save your stock price and your respect in the investment community, and all you have to do is reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you would.
Once again please understand that you brought me to this point by continually making statements about meeting me in June, July, August, September, etc.
Furthermore I am not comfortable with the stress and anxiety both **** brothers have to go through just for me, it is not fair to them, and they would be perfectly happy if YOU MET THE REQURIEMTENTS OF THE LOI.
The time is now to send me a certified cheque via mail.
What’s your next move, I look forward to hearing from you.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
And another:
You now have an opportunity to increase your stock price dramatically.
It sits at $0.0184, which is a 75%+ loss since I met you both in November.
None of your business dealings are increasing your stock price, and each time my name comes up the price drops again.
Do you want to keep losing money by not fulfilling your obligations?
Is it worth not paying me a measly $68,000 that you will risk losing millions in stock value?
Do you realize you are ruining real people’s lives who invested in your company by letting the stock price fall like this?
Those people will be your enemies for life, and unlike a mild mannered Rahi, they may take legal action against you both very soon.
So again, I ask,
Is it worth losing your corporation, years of work, millions in stock value, and the opportunity to dump more shares in the future just to save a paltry $60-$70 thousand?
If that is the case, then you are not good businessmen. Simple.
When a restaurant owes money to waiters or suppliers, they pay up BEFORE customers walk in the door, now it’s your turn.
Rahi
***
Then Hillard finally replies with a THREAT, including a junk reference to incorrect country of origin for the components, and my response to it as well:
Hi Hillard Nice to hear from you finally.
I have one simple thing to say about your email.
BB Solar’s comment, my comment was made AFTER I made an assessment in Pakistan on my OWN money and OWN work with Babar, NOT BEFORE my trip.
The quote you refer to is below:
“The BB Solar chief said that most residents, farmers, commercial and industrial markets are looking for higher quality Canadian, American and German products while more economical and Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious.”
The comment was made AFTER MY PRODUCTS WERE STOLEN BY YOUR PEOPLE and AFTER I met with officials in Pakistan that I set up the interview with Babar’s help, NOT YOURS. So you should really do your homework.
Note that it also says that Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious. Note that your email below does NOT refer to this part of the interview, and you are again distorting facts. Nothing I have said has been inflammatory and I am insulted that you would attack me after my patience with you and Sohail.
I have already invoiced you for losses, and will not communicate with you further unless you have my payment ready.
Please make payments payable to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc. or BB Solar Inc. as you see fit.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Please remove all references to BB Solar from your website and iHUB page immediately.
Yesterday was the due date on the invoice I sent you.
Rahi.
***
And the last email indicating a late fee and collections charges:
Sohail, Hillard, Bergamo,
The deadline for paying the invoice I sent has come and gone, and as a result I have added a suitable late fee, and a collections charge to the original invoice.
The new invoice is attached, and below for your reference.
If you do not contact me to indicate how you will be paying me, I will take this to a high powered, reputable, experienced collections agency.
Please note that I know the radio interview was PAID FOR, indicating that you HAVE money.
Thank you and make all payments in the form of wire transfer or certified cheque to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc., payments are to be made in Canadian Dollars.
Rahi
So in conclusion, does anyone here believe that Bergamo is the perfect organization they make themselves out to be? Perhaps the fact that ALL THE COMPANIES in their portfolio are either non existent, or belong to someone else. Or maybe it’s the Haanz Group that claims they own many companies that have never heard of the Haanz Group.
My next step is collections, then a law suit. Can I count on you (honest shareholders’) support?
BB Solar: A Summary:How Bergamo Failed to meet their end of the bargain and lied about EVERYTHING: Read on!
This is an objective, unbiased account of the last year for The Big Leaf and Rahi Tajzadeh. No NDA was ever signed by Rahi or Bergamo or any parties therein. All accounts can be backed with email and affidavits as needed.
Note that most emails will not be listed in this report…but I can safely say that none of the emails I received were sent confidentially…rather there were often stakeholders CC’d on emails.
I own The Big Leaf, a solar energy R&D company in Ontario Canada, which was focused on designing a proprietary solar generator (existing technology), and innovations in solar business modeling.
To pay for the bills at The Big Leaf I held a 9-5 job as an IT Technical Analyst, making a conservative $4,000 a month, and lived at home with mom and dad, while frequently visiting my girlfriend who lived 60km (30m) away.
A great friend of mine introduced me through his acquaintance to Sohail Parekh in Late Summer of 2011. In the first telephone conversation I was told that Bergamo is a $400 Million company that acquires existing businesses and finances their sales and operations as needed.
Sohail said that he needs a company that can sell solar energy equipment, systems, water pumps etc. in Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, and some African Countries.
I made it clear that The Big Leaf does NOT have experience in those countries but CAN design systems for use there, and is happy to work on building the necessary infrastructure to develop full sales and support in said regions...but that we would need funding, and Marketing in these regions, even as a Canadian company, is difficult and potentially expensive.
Sohail said that this is exactly what Bergamo does, they fund companies like ours, and that they have enough social and political ties in those regions that the sales will be basically set up ahead of time.
He asked me to give him details on water pumping solar systems and prices, and that he is interested in working with me exclusively…except for one other solar water pump company that is supplying them, owned by a guy named Steve. (I never found out what the company name was or who Steve was).
By July 22 of 2011 I had already sent my first email to Sohail asking for more details such as water requirements (litres per day, per hour, pump power [W or hp], well depth, etc.)
They replied promptly and answered my questions but it was clear that the answers were not given by engineers, rather business people, because the specifications seemed to change over time. (more on that later).
A few days later Sohail asked me to quote Solar Generators for home use, ranging from 10kW to 50kW, including maximum monthly supply available from suppliers, how many parts / complete systems can fit in a 40’ container etc. The email made it seem like large orders would be placed and that a JIT system or conservative sales estimates for market penetration and year over year growth were not being considered for whatever reason.
I offered an NDA to Bergamo but they claimed that we would sign their NDA in a telephone conversation (never happened), and sent the first of many proposals, quotes, presentations, etc. The proposal I sent was to fund The Big Leaf as a system provider to Pakistan, India, etc., as well as developing its own IP (the Clover…can’t say anything about this, sorry!).
The proposal was 17 pages considering I had less than a week to complete it, and they thanked me for the proposal but never spoke of it again.
A few days later I was asked to quote more systems, this time for buildings (apartment, business, etc.). Ranging from 5kW – 50kW. Again I replied with quotes.
Bergamo sent me a detailed email on: “The procedure of the Finance for Proposed Financing of The Big Leaf.”. In their own words. The email stated that:
***
I already had sent a proposal, and now they wanted a full business plan, which made sense to me, but the viability portion of the email had me concerned, and in telephone conversations Sohail told me that he can get us sales far beyond the $500M mentioned, and all we need to do is run the business while he accommodates sales.
I sent a detailed email indicating what technologies we work with, and why our IP is worth their investment, and that we are in the process of completing a short business plan (20-30 pages). By this time I was hard at work arranging suppliers and the business plan.
By August 15th we had sent a detailed quote on multiple systems to Bergamo.
***
I sent this email to Sohail:
Sohail,
I noticed that Bergamo is already offering solar pumps (some look like they are on a tracker) for about $3 / Watt installed.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/
If they are not connected to a solar tracker and do not have batteries then of course we can provide a system that does. But if this is your cost including a tracker then we must re-evaluate our quote, as we have been using average industry prices to be conservative (under promise and over perform).
If there is no tracker then we can be of assistance to provide systems with trackers and we can work together to attain the best PV panel cost which it looks as though you already are getting!
Furthermore I know of a manufacturer that may be able to beat almost any PV cost and still provide excellent warranty and performance and quality.
Let me know what you think…I am still preparing the summary business plan.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
By September 2nd we sent a 4 page detailed quote on 80 systems (PV and CPV) that we felt would do well in the markets mentioned above.
***
On September 7th another email came my way from Sohail, with a powerpoint of solar tube well systems with Bergamo’s name on the presentation, as though it was their systems…but the images were from online resources. The email asked me to make a comparison to these products and Sohail said in a telephone conversation that this was “Steve’s Company”.
Here is the email (note the misspelling of my name):
A further email indicated that my SUPPLIER is to bear the cost of a demo in Pakistan:
By September 6th a Presentation was also sent to Bergamo for The Big Leaf’s new venture with Bergamo.
By September 9th I had a presentation to match the one Sohail sent me on the water pumping systems from “Steve” with Bergamo written all over the presentation. It is safe to say that by this time I was spending any waking moment I had on this venture because I was led to believe that Bergamo is the real deal.
I spoke with Sohail and Hillard a few times in September where Hillard proceeded to yell at me and say my prices are too high…which didn’t make sense to me because the prices were industry average and included a 1 axis tracker and installation, which other quotes “Steve” did not have. Also the quotes I sent were about 15%-25% above what they wanted, which is exactly how much MORE ELECTRICITY is generated when you install a 1 axis tracker in Pakistan (exact numbers are 15%-18% but that depends on exact location).
Revised presentations were sent with updated prices.
I was sent an email with a sample Letter of Intent (note the spelling mistakes), which I did not agree to because of the contents. Here are some of the contents in the sample LOI which was sent with no NON DISCLOSURE clauses:
***
Note that Bergamo wanted PROPRIETARY RIGHTS to the products which was completely unacceptable.
Furthermore let me make it clear that Sohail and Hillard told me that the role of having 2 companies go to demo in Pakistan (The Big Leaf and Steve’s company) was to instill a feeling of competition or at least to make it seem like multiple bids were being placed and that there was real competition, when in fact Bergamo wanted the profits (60% or more) from both companies. I felt very uneasy but was reassured that this is the way business with governments works.
Whenever I mentioned lawyers Sohail asked me to keep them out of things as it would be too expensive. On multiple telephone conversations this occurred, especially in relation to the LOI.
By October 2nd, I had not signed their LOI and they were pushing me with emails like the following:
***
Please note that the email states that “other” company is ready to demo in two weeks. Sohail pressured me to get a demo to Pakistan ASAP and sign the LOI.
I responded saying that I can present in Pakistan in Late November at the earliest, and that we cannot INSTALL the demo in Pakistan as we have no infrastructure there to do so, nor did we have a confirmed demo site.
By October 6th a pro forma income statement with viable sales figures was emailed to Sohail. He responded with an “OK”.
October 13th, Sohail sent me 6+ photos of supposed Bergamo officers with top government officials. Sohail, Hillard, and at least one recognizable government official are in one picture, with the rest being people I do not know. The email that the pictures came with had nothing written in it.
A phone call from Sohail followed where he indicated that the government officials are “My people, my friends from childhood…”, and that I was not to worry about getting any sales in Pakistan, India, etc., and that getting the sales is Bergamo’s job, while running the business was my job.
I received a pleasant letter to Bergamo from a minister in Pakistan indicating that he is very interested in seeing the demo in “Late November or earlier”, and that Bergamo has their support. This minister will not be named in this report, but I will call him John Doe.
Hillard sent me an email on October 22 with their competitors systems listed, most were made with Chinese components which are the most cost effective right now.
A new LOI was drafted and the suggestion of a new venture was made in an email by Sohail:
***
I was working with them on the LOI when this email arrived:
(more systems were listed in the email but this is a good sample).
***
By November 15th I was scheduled to fly to meet Hillard and Sohail in Nevada some time around my birthday (nov 22).
***
By this time we had a business plan, system quoting tools, suppliers set up, and staff ready to work.
Also by this time I was under the impression that a Late November trip was expected, even though I knew it was impossible without travel VISAs and other accommodations…so I suggested December.
Note that by this time I had already blocked off my vacation time from my 9-5 job because over multiple telephone conversations Sohail asked me to be ready to present in Late November.
Then I had to change that vacation time again to Late December, which Sohail agreed to over the phone.
Here is a sample of my emails to Sohail, to give you an idea of my mood:
Gentlemen,
Thank you for your ongoing support. I will reach an agreement with the **** brothers within a few days. In the meantime I am working on the solar generators you are asking for. I still require all the pertinent data for the attached visa application.
Sohail, can you provide me with a list of people and places I will present this generator to/in? I want to be prepared for these presentations so any important information is key. Also, I want to work together with BAC to share resources wherever possible (i.e. we need to outsource marketing rather than do it in house – including graphics, website, and videos). If you already have resources or contacts that would be ideal as it will help control costs.
I am putting together the team that will run BB Solar (Dir of Sales, Dir of Bus Development, CFO, etc.) and want to know how you wish me to set this up. Let’s discuss this further in emails.
We have much to do, and a great opportunity is ahead of us, let’s make the best of it!
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
So I went to Las Vegas, met Sohail and Hillard in Hillard’s house, and in his computer room we drafted the last copy of the LOI.
In that room I was told by Hillard that Bergamo owns many companies like GreenSafe Demanufacturing, and their core business is complementary acquisitions: he stated that Greensafe receives its raw materials for free via train, and on the return trip, the empty rail cars are filled with concrete which Bergamo’s subsidiary uses in New York to do road work. He made it sound very sophisticated and foolproof.
Hillard gave me a “portfolio” of companies that they claimed to own, including Greensafe, and asked me to “look through it” and see what they (Bergamo) really do. I did so and thanked them for showing me the “portfolio”.
I call it a “portfolio” because it was a seried of power point presentation slides with various company summaries, which were vague, far too short to mean anything, didn’t indicate any complementary business strategy, or even make me believe it was a real document at all…it seemed like random powerpoint slides…I did not take heed of that red flag.
Later on that same “portfolio” was emailed to me as Bergamo’s business plan, where I was to add BB Solar to the random group of slides. Where Dr. Ghaus’s airplane company also was added. (look up Dr. Ghaus if you want).
Sohail told me that Hillard really likes me and that this will be a great business relationship and that The Big Leaf / BB Solar will receive full funding.
Here is a nice email from Sohail after we signed an LOI in Nevada, in Hillards house, on my birthday (note the spelling mistakes):
A few days later I received a call from Sohail indicating Bergamo received $1B and that he wanted ME to contact my local news stations and newspapers to spread the news. I received this email:
***
No details in the email other than the above link were present. No details were made clear to me about the origins, nature, or form of the $1B. I did not contact any news organizations as I felt the information was not credible.
***
By November 30th, Sohail was still not clear on what system and what prices he wanted in the demo, and I received this email:
***
I asked Sohail in a telephone conversation to stop posting on the website and on press releases or radio shows that any of the systems provided are “proprietary” as they were / are not. Solar Systems are pieced together using off the shelf components 95% of the time. It is rare that a technology company install its own solar systems save for CPV systems (SolFocus, Morgan Solar etc.).
By November 30th I was ready to go to and present in Pakistan around December 20, IF the equipment could be shipped ASAP. It was not, because of Bergamo’s inability to get us necessary details:
By December 6th it was apparent that the December trip was to be delayed again. For one I could not get an address to ship my components to (Sohail was to provide all accommodations for the demo in Pakistan), nor a receiver’s name, nor any details on the press conference for the demo which they promised, nor the list of people I would be presenting to, nor the expected sales for the first trip (other than Sohail’s telephone promises of “More sales that you can handle!”).
I received this email on December 6th:
***
The email was encouraging but I had to delay my vacation time block at my 9-5 job AGAIN to late January which upset my boss very much, but Sohail assured me over the phone that by then everything will be set.
By December 4th I had a full presentation ready for the press conference in Pakistan, complete with speech, music, and powerpoint / handouts.
By this time I still had not received Visa Application information, consignee information, press conference information, accommodation information, “Steve’s” company’s updates (where are they, why are they not in the picture, are they still going with me?, etc.)
Regarding the above email, I was concerned that the importer wanted 50% of the profits indefinitely. Sohail emailed me this response and called me indicating the profit sharing with the importer was a one time thing:
***
My response:
I am happy to split with the distributor this one time…but in the future we cannot split profits! You are giving away 50% of our markup? That means the effective markup for each system is 50%, not 100%. If we split, it is the same as saying Bergamo gets 30% of GP and Big Leaf gets 20% of GP, and not the LOI’s quote of 60% and 40%.
Distributors can take a cut but 50% is unjustified.
***
Then more red flags. Sohail claimed the demo will take place early January, when shipping takes weeks, and he sends me an email indicating that the profit margins on the systems he asked me to send in the email above should only be $1,000…which to me sounds like dishonest business practice because the DISTRIBUTOR / IMPORTER would set the final retail price…
I was ok with this happening one time, but was uncomfortable in general:
The low markup is fine for this container and I agree that we have to take this hit to demo.
I have no objections with it at all.
I just want to clarify that distributors in the FUTURE will not take 50% of the profit.
This container’s distributor is free to take 50% of the profit.
Good?
Rahi.
***
And this email from me as well:
Just to confirm what I will be quoting:
20’ container
1. 25% of which is DC water pump system with panels, pump, and control box.
2. 25% of which is AC water pump system with panels, pump, control box, and inverter.
3. 50% of which will be filled EVENLY with:
a. 5KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
b. 10KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
c. 20KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
d. 30KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
e. 50KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
Markup will be $1,000 per Water Pump System.
Markup will be $1,000 per 2KV for Generators (i.e. 10KV system has a $5,000 markup which is about 17% markup, and the 20KV system has a $10,000 markup which is about 9% markup)
Profits will be split with distributor for this one container.
Shipment will be for February 4-8th 2012.
As for how many systems we can fit into the container I have to wait for the suppliers response, which will include the final price.
Sounds good?
***
Since Sohail wanted a demo in Early January, I switched my vacation from late January with another colleague to early January, upsetting my boss again, and I put pressure on Sohail to get me shipping details because shipping from china can take weeks.
He replied with this email:
Ship To
Mr. Mujtaba Ghaus
***
I responded with:
Can I use the same address for the VISA application?
Cheers!
Rahi.
, He replied : YES.
***
Still on December 6th I receive this email:
***
Note that Steve’s company is mentioned again.
I received an email which had a google document with Banca Intesa STA and $1B indicated…but I could not make sense of the document as it was not coherent or reliable in any way.
Another email indicated the ministers are looking forward to seeing us:
Mr. Rahi Tajzadeh and Mr. Dmytro Khimich
Attached Please Find Invitation Letter from Bergamo Global Energy Private Limited. We will need B/L for the Demo model that was shipped to Pakistan to get duty exemption from Goverment of Pakistan.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/ministers-letter/
Attached is link Invitation from Minister for Irrigation Mr. Jam Saif Ullah Khan. If you need any confirmation then the consulate office may contact his office directly.
Thanks
Sohail Parekh
www.bergamoenergy.com
***
Note the link points to a dead URL now.
***
Here is where the REAL trouble starts.
Shipping problems: Bill of landing issues, port authority issues, etc. Here is an email indicating the beginning of the problems, NONE of which was indicated by the actual port authority, rather Sohail’s contacts (most likely Dr. Ghaus).
***
More problems, and more people I do not know, and more issues that SHOULD have been cleared up or expected considering Bergamo’s supposed experience in Pakistan:
***
More delays, and I had to change my vacation block again:
***
From December 6th onwards this went on, all of it should have been easy to settle. By this time I had made a promotional video, website, presentations, handouts, systems were designed, suppliers set up,etc.
By December 27th I was becoming concerned about the timeliness of things, and I recognized a pattern:
Whenever I was concerned about something, or asked too many questions, Sohail or Hillard would ask me to come up with a new quote, usually very large systems, or to add BB Solar to their “Master File”.
NOTE: The Master File they sent me was the same as the powerpoint slide “portfolio” I saw in Hillards house (save for a few changes) and STILL AT THIS TIME included Greensafe, Suntrough, and Platinum Funding.
I still have this document of course, and they asked me to add BB Solar AND FALCON Airplane company…which made me question whether they had the resources to create even a single business plan for Bergamo…which I had not seen…
Also please note that this Master File was referred to by Sohail as Bergamo’s Business Plan.
Here is an email I received to give you an indication of what we are talking about:
***
I was sent Hillards Big Biz Radio Interview and put it on BB Solar’s site…but I was very concerned about his comments regarding equipment already being in Pakistan and things going well, even my retired mother felt this was dishonest.
Then Hillard emails me asking me to put the following on my BB Solar website:
on bbsolar.ca Web Site
Presentation Confirmation with the Minister to be held in Pakistan Jan 2nd, 2012 by Bergamo associates in Pakistan.
* Bergamo’s Joint Venture Partner’s to Arrange an event in Sindh Province ( Tando Allah Yar) at a Farm the gathering would be for 50 to 60 growers plus approx 40 to 50 guests from Media- Local Businessman and Government officials will be invited including local Member of Parliaments and Minister of that area local media will be invited to attend the demonstration.
*Lunch, Tea, Lecture session, demonstration and other related activities would be arranged at farm level.
Similar Event will take place in Indus Hotel Hyderabad.
Punjab Marriott Hotel, Pear Continental Hotel. And Guest will be taken to the demonstration site or brought back to the hotel for further details of possible sales.
Generators for Home's etc etc
Pumps for Tubewells
***
I did not because the dates are all wrong and there were details in the email that I was not aware of (for example which hotels, cities, etc.).
Then more shipping problems, needing original bill of landing etc…
On January 1st it seems to me that things with Dr. Ghaus changed such that he did not want to work with Sohail anymore, and I received this disturbing email indicating I shipped too early…when he wanted me in Pakistan in Late DECEMBER!!!!:
***
Note that all NECESSARY DOCUMENTS were eventually fedexed and telexed from China and that our supplier in China has NEVER had issues shipping components, nor did they understand the need for an original document instead of a fax, scan, email, etc.
Also note that Sohail gave me the shipping address of Dr. Ghaus, asking me to demo in EARLY JANUARY, knowing I cannot ship until I had the address and that shipping takes weeks.
Note that Bergamo did not take into account shipping time in general.
Note that I sent Bergamo emails indicating that I will be happy to pay the charges for shipping without original bill of landing, but they refused, and asked for Bill of Landing, Commercial Invoice, etc.
All of this shipping headache indicated to me that Bergamo’s acquaintances in Pakistan were not ready to receive large shipments. I am not sure why I continued from this point on…Perhaps it was the many many telephone conversations where Sohail told me he is my brother, and loves me, and will not let anything happen to me.
All of a sudden, on January 7th, everything seems fine with the shipping…here is an email from Sohail:
***
So things seemed fine…then the bill of landing which I FEDEXED to them from CHINA was not able to be received…it was addressed to Dr Ghaus, and Sohail told me that someone else (unknown who) went to pick it up and they have it and it is gone…
Chinese suppliers told me they do not have another original copy and that this is not reasonable in any sense.
Apparently a guy named Ali Mehmood picked up the bill of landing as per an email from Sohail on January 12…it is still missing at this point.
All documents were arranged by the Chinese suppliers despite the inconvenience and resent to Sohail’s contacts.
***
Once again to keep me quiet and ‘busy’ sohail sends me a document indicating that there will be a bridge built for $1B in Bangladesh (Sohail misspelled Bangladesh), and that he wants ME to put in a bid for it for Bergamo.
On the phone he said that Bergamo and The Big Leaf can run the operation for the bridge while a CHINESE company would do the work. We would act like middle men.
Here is the email:
***
Note that The Big Leaf and BB Solar are / were in no way ready to place a serious bid for the construction of a bridge.
I then receive this vague email from Sohail making claims that I could not stand by. He indicated that this will likely be a press release:
***
More emails were sent to me indicating Bergamo has $400 M… by this time (January 18th), a late January demo was out of the question and AGAIN I had to delay my vacation block at my 9-5 work.
This was the last time for my boss who did not renew my contract as a direct result of this, and even indicated to me “I’m sure you will do fine at your other job”.
***
From this point on (Jan 20), another name came into the picture, Waseem.
This email below from Sohail indicates that BERGAMO KNEW AND WAS ON BOARD WITH CHINESE PRODUCTS / COMPONENTS:
***
Then more trouble with Dr Ghaus who could not receive the products, would not accept me paying him for any fees he would pay, and not cooperating with anyone.
Finally after months of trouble, Sohail send me a link to the import rules for Pakistan…something that Dr. Ghaus should have done 90 days prior.
***
On January 25, I get this email which is vague and cryptic:
***
Again I comply and make the quotes but am not sure who Nasim is.
Sohail made it clear in multiple emails that I HAVE TO ALWAYS indicate that BB Solar is a JV Partner of Bergamo etc…even though no contract outside of an LOI was signed to indicate as such, and no ownership was transferred.
Note that Bergamo NEVER ONCE asked to sign a contract or transfer ownership, or write in the official documents that Hillard and Sohail and I are on the board of directors which is what they wanted.
Here is a sample email from Sohail:
***
Again I receive an email asking me to make another quote, this time for 950 pumps and 35000 gallons an hour.
I felt like they were just keeping me busy but since they never said who the quotes I am making are going to, or what the context is, or time frame etc. I felt like more was going on that I was led to believe.
By the end of January they still could not get my equipment out of customs, and whenever I wanted to intervene or just go to Pakistan to get it out myself, Sohail would tell me that these are “his people” and this is “his country” and he knows how things work.
I received this email:
***
The above is all that’s listed in the email…
Then another twist, this time Waseem and Nasim are named together, here is the email (note the spelling of my name is wrong again)
***
Here is Sohail trying to get something done about the shipping fiasco:
***
January 29th, Sohail emails me something he sent to Nasim and Waseem, regarding a 5MW solar powerplant. He asked me in a telephone conversation to make a quote for this system (even though it is CSP, and most likely the SunTrough deal that fell through).
By this time I had quoted the 950 pumps, the 500kW systems+, and made a generic price list for systems ranging from 5kW – 50MW+
One day later, Sohail asked me to quote solar powered cell phone towers.
I don’t think he realized the amount of work that goes into quoting systems, especially if they are new, such as solar cell towers.
I made a quote nevertheless in an effort to be a good partner.
Then I suggested to Sohail, in passing, that investing $1B+ in solar panels installed along the top 10 major highways in Pakistan could power much of Karachi.
Sohail jumped on it and asked me to make him an official quote. He said he sent the highway quote to the Alternative Energy Board.
By January 31st, we were supposed to transfer the name of the recipient on all shipments to Pacific Engineering, to clear up the customs issue.
Also the mounting equipment was lost completely at this time if I am not mistaken.
By this time I was also weary of Sohail’s contact in the Alternative Energy Board, Mr. Alaudin, who has critics claiming he is crooked. Also Sohail told me on multiple occasions that anything we bring into the country must go through Alaudin. This information turned out to not be correct according to people I eventually worked with in Pakistan.
Here is the email indicating I am to change recipient to Pacific Engineering:
***
Below is THE FIRST mention of components NOT made in China, and the email is in reference to the CELL PHONE TOWER systems, not the DEMO:
***
Then this cryptic email from Sohail asking that I set up ANOTHER company in Pakistan of which Saim and Waseem will be shareholders:
***
Needless to say the red flags were everywhere at this point.
Then things get more complex with this email:
***
The following email was from Sohail , dated January 31, 2012:
***
And another email from Sohail asking for more joint ventures in Pakistan…looked to me like Nasim and Waseem wanted a piece of the pie too:
***
Then more shipments went missing:
***
Kind emails were sent to Nasim and Waseem to accommodate my arrival:
***
Then I see this press release which was news to me, I had no idea another existing renewable energy company would be “working” with us:
SOLAR WIND PRIVATE LTD ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE FOR DEMONSTRATIONS IN PAKISTAN BEING DONE WITH BB SOLAR AND BERGAMO ACQUISITIONS
Karachi, Pakistan—March 15, 2012— Solar Wind Private LTD, with the support of BB Solar and Bergamo Acquisitions Corp. (OTC:BGMO), announced today the demonstrations of Solar Tube Pumping Systems and Solar Generators for home and cell phone towers on April 10, 2012 at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass Karachi and at their office 1 C Khaybane Shamsher Phase 5 D. H. A Karachi.
BB Solar can provide customized solutions and financing options to more customers than ever before, making the switch to Solar Energy easy and profitable. BB Solar, is a Canadian based Solar Energy Solutions Company. The company has strategically teamed up with The Big Leaf Inc. and Bergamo Acquisition Inc. to increase its ability to serve customers. Offering multiple types and technologies of solar systems, BB Solar plans to enter into various markets, and carve new niches.
BB Solar’s focus for Pakistan will include residential roof top and ground mounted solar, irrigation systems and water pumping, backup power and electricity, commercial and industrial electricity, government and military systems, and solar powered cellular phone towers.
Solar Power use saves the cost of diesel fuel or unreliable, unavailable grid power. The local population benefits from decreased pollution, local jobs created for installation and maintenance, and increased value in land. The Nation as a whole benefits as it can decrease the dependence on imported oil, as well as a decreased requirement to burn coal locally rather than sell it internationally.
For more information: www.bbsolar.ca
Contact: sales@bbsolar.ca
***
Another press release:
Karachi Pakistan March 15 2012, Mr. Waseem Ahmed C.E.O of Solar Wind pvt Ltd is glad to announce in collaboration with BB Solar Inc a Joint Venture Subsidiary Company of Bergamo Acquisition Corp ( OTC;BGMO ) a public limited company in U.S.A, will conduct demonstrations of solar tube well pumping systems, solar generators for domestic use, cell phone towers and various other energy required industries on April 10th 2012 onwards at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern By Pass Karachi.
There are currently 40 million tube well pumping systems in Pakistan that are being used at less than full capacity due to a power shortage of approximately 10,000 megawatts. Recognizing the benefits of solar powered energy generators the type developed by BB Solar Inc the country will meet its severely needed energy requirements by installing at least two to three million solar power generators engineered by BB Solar Inc.
The company's engineers have developed solar energy pumps in Canada, USA and China having capacities ranging from 6,000 liters per hour to 160,000 liters per hour and will significantly reduce the energy cost to the end user.It will not only meet the countries energy needs but will decrease pollution,dependence on imported oil,reduce the use of coal domestically rather than export to gain foreign exchange and finally create thousands of jobs for installation and maintenance of solar energy products, which is the basic mission of the current Government. To attend the demonstration a formal invitation will be extended to the heads of various concerned ministries and various important institutions.
***
By March 17th the equipment was at Mr. Waseem’s farmhouse, ready to be deployed and demonstrated.
I was sent pictures of the components in an email.
Here is an email from Sohail indicating that all seems well:
***
After I speak with Sohail, he wanted me to write for him a press release; because he stated that I write better than he does (I should have asked where his marketing team was). Then I get this email from Hillard, with the subject line: Use some words from here
***
Note that it refers to COMPANY ENGINEERS…which we did not have any at the time.
Then this release with more details:
BB Solar in conjunction with (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp and SolarWind Private Ltd are pleased to announce a demonstration of a customizable solar solution in a farm in Karachi, Pakistan.
The demo will include solar tube well pumping, and a solar generator (capable of powering homes, businesses or cellular phone towers). Thanks to the tireless efforts of our technical team, we are able to demonstrate all three solutions in early April.
BB Solar is sending its CEO Rahi Tajzadeh to Karachi on March 29th where he will work with the local team to arrange a full press conference at the demonstration site in early April. The site is located at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass in Karachi. The Installation of our product that arrived at the farm, Installation will commence from monday.
Formal invitations will be extended to heads of various ministries, important institutions, and military bodies to attend the demonstration.
This demonstration will illustrate the versatility of BB Solar in system design and solution implementation in the solar industry. Given that there are Millions of tube wells in Pakistan, most of which are powered by diesel generators and unreliable AC power, the market for solar tube well pumping ranges from $10B USD - $200B USD over the next 5-10 years.
When looking at solar systems for electricity generation, the market is even larger: Since residential, commercial, industrial, government, and military bodies are all potential customers of solar electricity systems, the market ranges from $100B USD - $400B USD over the next 10 years.
There are over 40,000 cellular phone towers in Pakistan alone, each of which requires an average of 3kW of reliable power. Our solar generators, along with batteries, can provide uninterrupted power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We predict that the total value of this market ranges from $750M USD - $1.4B USD over the next 5 years.
BB Solar is working with SolarWind Private Ltd to capture a significant portion of these markets. We are aiming at acquiring 10%-20% of the solar tube well pumping market within 5 years, 10%-15% of solar energy generators within 5 years, and 25%-33% of the solar powered cellular phone towers within 5 years. We plan on achieving these goals via the following value added benefits that we provide our customers:
- Customized solutions instead of catalogue sales
- Free ABC and TLC analysis for each major customer
- We have multiple suppliers and technologies at the ready to better meet your needs
- Our solutions are either made in Canada, USA, or China to provide more flexibility in requirements or budget
- We provide solutions from $5,000USD - $100M+ and anything in between
- We use locally sourced sales, distribution, installation, and maintenance professionals, thereby increasing the total value to the local community
Our pumping systems can generate 6,000 litres – 160,000 litres per hour, and the flexibility of our system design allows the customer to dictate what they receive. Our solar generators come in multiple technologies and various configurations whether you are an individual home owner, farmer, or military commander, you can rely on our ability to meet your specific needs!
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
By March 20th I had my flight booked as the team in Pakistan told me all was set up and Nasim and Waseem knew of my arrival date and time.
I get this email a day later from Sohail:
***
More confirmation of things supposedly going well:
***
Up until the day before I left, everything with Nasim and Waseem seemed OK, here is an exchange indicating as such:
Gentlemen,
It is an absolute pleasure that our plans are finally complete and things are moving! I am thrilled to visit Karachi and meet each and every one of you. Before I get to my agenda I want to make our goals very clear:
BB Solar’s Goal in general, is to get as much sales as possible in solar energy and pumping systems, through the help of SolarWind Private LTD and AEDB. But if you want to know what our minimum requirements are, 360 complete systems / year is reasonable. I know that it may be very easy or very hard to reach 30 systems / month, but let’s aim for at least this volume!
My agenda is very simple:
1. Test the system in Karachi successfully and let it run for a few days.
2. Meet with as many important persons as we can to prepare them for the presentation.
3. Trial run – Perform the presentation and press conference once with no one there to ensure everything works.
4. Press Conference / Presentation takes place.
5. We get orders for BB Solar Inc. via SolarWind Private Ltd. and AEDB
My visit is scheduled for 7 – 10 days, or however long it is necessary to stay for the agenda to be complete.
As for the missing components, I believe you are referring to the mounting hardware: the rails and clamps that hold down the panels. I am trying to source them locally, but if we do not find it or are not able to mount the panels another way, I can have China ship another set to Pacific Engineering’s address or another address of your choice. This should not be absolutely necessary for the presentation but can help a lot.
I have sent you 2 pumps (1 is a backup in case the other one fails), and 3,000W of panels, and a 2,000 inverter. This is enough equipment to demo a Solar Generator, and a Solar Water Pumping System using the same components.
I am very happy to see the progress and am very thankful to Mr. Nasim and Mr. Waseem for their hospitality!
Once again I arrive at ~2:30 AM on March 29th in Karachi.
I look forward to a successful endeavour and thank you all for your time.
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
Subject: Re: Rahi Arriving 2.35 Pm Karachi FLT# 0221 Etihad Airlines
Rahi
Kindly send us your complete visit plan and duration of visit as well with agenda.
We understand that you will also need time to do the piping work for the pump and connection to solar panels.Kindly note that end connectors for solar panels are not available locally.We are trying to mechanically fix the solar panels at a suitable location to save time.
The necessary cabling,piping to s-pump will be done when you are here.
We only have some solar cells,two pump and a 2kw invertor.
Nasim / Waseem
When I arrived in Pakistan, Mr Waseem was supposed to have a driver pick me up, take me to a guest house, set me up with an office, phone and internet, and take me to the demo site at the very least.
No one showed up at the airport at 3 am…or 4 am…I was stranded. I went to Marriott hotel on my own funds (the LOI was clear that Bergamo was to make ALL NECESSARY ACCOMMODATIONS for SALES TO TAKE PLACE).
The entire trip consisted of me running around trying desperately to salvage the trip. I set up a relationship between The Big Leaf and a local company (The REFUSED TO WORK WITH BERGAMO after they were told by Sohail that Bergamo needs to buy a Pakistani bank before they can do anything with Solar…which was news to me). That company and I set up importing and delivery and installation infrastructure, as well as sales and marketing infrastructure…none of which could be useful if not funded! Which bergamo promised to do… … they did not.
I met the Minister of the province and his brother…both were wonderful people and VERY friendly! They took me out to dinner and I visited their estate in a village outside Sukur. The minister made it clear to me that ANY solar generator is too expensive when compared to diesel generators, REGARDLESS of the lower operating / maintenance costs, and that Sohail made a mistake in thinking that the minister would or could buy the systems. (more on this later).
I get this email from Sohail:
***
From this point on Nasim and Waseem do not talk to me, other than 1 email from Nasim saying that he did NOT invite me and is NOT interested in talking to me at all.
Sohail was fuming and called him *&%^&*% even in an email to Waseem, who is friends with Nasim!
I was stuck with no demo, no guest house, no office, and only a few thousand I brought in case of emergency.
This email was sent to Waseem:
***
Note that I personally did not offer the demo as a gift to Waseem UNLESS he let me use his guest house, the demo site for a press conference, etc.
The following press release was issued sometime in April, I was asked to write it for Bergamo and I was stuck in a hotel room in Pakistan with a return ticket one month away and not enough money to stay that long.
Sohail made it clear to me that I HAVE to indicate a successful demo, and that he will pay me my losses.
BB Solar Inc. progress update in Pakistan
Marriott Hotel, Karachi Pakistan, April 2nd, 2012. (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp is pleased to update its shareholder CEO of BB Solar Inc Mr. Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with warm and enthusiastic support. We have already found a local marketing and distribution company to work with which will make our sales, import, support, installation, distribution, and maintenance programs less costly and less complicated. Our demo has been installed in a local farm and we are on our way to take photographs and video of it in action. Our demo was an example of our economy line of solar water pumping systems, and we have already sold it within the first week. We spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and have come to the conclusion that high quality 5kW – 25kW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell in this burgeoning country. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German components. The potential market size here for 5kW – 25kW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. The people here are used to getting less than they paid for in terms of service and quality, and almost no post-purchase support. This is an opportunity for BB Solar to take the market by storm as we focus on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program. Our partner companies The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp are excited at our move to enter the Pakistani market and eVP Sohail Parekh is very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. As we sold our first demo in less than four days we decided not to hold a press conference until our CEO Rahi Tajzadeh returns with an American or German made 20kW system which is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan we are arranging a large press conference for this 20kW system which will take place by the end of the season, or early summer.
Looking forward to growing our company and working with you: BB Solar Inc.
BB Solar Inc.
Sales@BBSolar.ca
Rahi@BBSolar.ca
1-416-884-8033
Marriott Hotel 3 5680111 Room 705.
***
Another press release they sent out…with my name misspelled AGAIN.
Bergamo Acquisition Corp Provides Update on BB Solar, Inc. Project in Pakistan
Karachi Pakistan -April 2, 2012- Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC: BGMO) announced today that BB Solar, Inc., joint venture subsidiary company’s CEO, Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with enthusiastic support. The company is establishing local marketing and distribution centers to assist in its sales, import, support, installation, distribution , and maintenance which will enable a much economical and less complicated program.
BB Solar CEO Mr. Rahi Tajzada has spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and has come to the conclusion that high quality 5KW to 25KW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German products. The potential market size here for 5KW to 25KW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3,000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. BB Solar has an opportunity to become the dominant player in the market as it focuses on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program which is important to the people of Pakistan. BB Solar’s partner companies, The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp, are enthused and fully supportive at entering the Pakistani market.
Sohail Parekh, Sr. Executive Vice President of Bergamo, stated, “We are very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. Since we have decided to offer higher quality Canadian, US and German product instead of Chinese products which are flooded in the market due to which BB Solar’s CEO, Rahi Tajzadeh will return with an American or German made 20KW system in the next few weeks.The 20KW system is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan, we will be arranging a press conference for this 20KW system to take place by the end of the season or early summer. Currently Mr. Rahie Tajzada is conducting meetings with various Governmental and private authorities while researching proper energy requirement for the country, specially punjab Government is offering subsidies for energy projects.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For further information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
Sohail send me an email with the subject line “Useful points for Rahi” which he wrote, and CLEARLY INDICATES CHINESE COMPONENTS as well as Canada / USA.
***
More press releases with known lies in them, which I made clear to them are not true in telephone conversations:
BERGAMO ACQUISITION’S BB SOLAR CEO COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL TRIP
TO PAKISTAN
Henderson, NV-April 17, 2012-Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC:BGMO) announced today that BB Solar CEO Rahi Tajzadeh has returned from a successful trip to Karachi Pakistan. A Marketing, Importing, Distribution, and Sales partner in Karachi with the ability to reach all of Pakistan was established. Having spent two weeks engaging in discussions with local leaders and provincial ministers, as well as local business owners, farmers, irrigation designers and managers, Rahi has spotted a market opportunity ready to grow in a region with plenty of sunshine and heavy substitute costs.
The bread and butter of this market is the 5KW-25KW systems, although special projects like DHA City present a wonderful prospect for large market gains. Currently customers are used to, but tired of lackluster post purchase support, catalogue sales techniques, limited sources of products, and difficult warranty processes, all of which BB Solar can alleviate. With subsidies from the local government and other NGO’s, the support of the local community, and a value added approach to business practices, BB Solar is poised to achieve a significant market share within a few years. 300 – 3000 systems annually, ranging from 5KW–25KW are estimated once Marketing is established, and the supply chain is running smoothly inside Pakistan.
Various entities in and around Karachi and in the Punjab Province have requested a larger 20KW demonstration for irrigation and off grid home use. There is also a demand for hybrid solar and wind energy systems which BB Solar’s parent, R&D company, The Big Leaf is working on. These systems can increase the total efficiency of the usable land for energy generation with no carbon emissions. BB Solar is also working on a tender for DHA City in at least one of their solar energy projects, which range from 1-10MW. BB Solar is in talks with a very special, specialized, value added supplier for proprietary technology in the tender and if the supplier can agree to terms, a competitive advantage can be achieved.
BB Solar is sending quotes to interested parties and is aiming at 3 – 30 systems by quarter end.
Updates on the next visit to Pakistan will be made available on the websites as they develop.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For more information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
Contact:
For Sales and General Inquiries Contact Us
Email: SALES@BBSOLAR.CA
Purchasing: RAHI@BBSOLAR.CA
Business Development: DIMITRY@BBSOLAR.CA
Special Rate Inquiries: TERESSA@BBSOLAR.CA
Financing Options: WWW.BERGAMOENERGY.COM
Fax: 1-905-763-1213 (please email us before you fax)
Bergamo Acquisition Corp.
President & Director
hillardherzog@bergamocorp.com
www.bergamocorp.com
www.bergamoenergy.com
http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy
or
Investor Relations:
The Eversull Group, Inc.
Jack Eversull, President, 972-571-1624
Fax: 214-469-2361
jack@theeversullgroup.com
***
By May 11 I am back in Toronto, out of money, a job, and my mother’s retirement savings…all of which Sohail PERSONALLY stated he will reimburse me on MULTIPLE telephone conversations with WITNESSES who I will be getting affidavits from.
Then I get this email with more cryptic references to potential contracts:
***
Then I get this email from Sohail, indicating that the same minister who told me the systems are too expensive (regardless of the supplier or country of origin) wants to purchase systems again…:
***
By July 17th, I was aware that Bergamo could not meet the requirements of the LOI in any form or any of the claims they made about their business. It was evident to me that they did not care too much about my success because in hindsight, to enter into the Pakistani solar market as an external entity it would take far more money and time than they thought possible, as well as complete business infrastructure which they did not seem to be interested in at all. They never asked about things like “where do you store systems” “Do you use JIT?” “how will you market and to whom?” “who will provide the post purchase service and maintenance and how?” “how will warranty and RMA requests be handled?” “what software / package will you use for monitoring?”
These questions were to be figured out AFTER a QUICK sale was made to “Sohail’s People”. This way we could get funding to figure out all these questions and more (after all the business plan I wrote was not an OPERATIONAL business plan, which would be hundreds of pages long, I wrote a summary business plan which is reasonable for a quick sale).
As the days went on, Sohail made it CLEAR to me, to our mutual contacts, and to my mother (through me) that ALL LOSSES will be REIMBURSED by Bergamo and that they STILL want to do business with me.
I asked to be paid in certified cheque or stock, and they claimed that they would send me and out mutual contact to Las Vegas, first class, to arrange the payment.
Nothing happened for “TWO WEEKS”…this went on for MONTHS.
Finally by August Sohail claimed that end of August is fine for a visit.
By the End of August, nothing happened.
In telephone conversations with our mutual contacts on the line, Sohail claimed that BERGAMO and HE do NOT HAVE MONEY to pay me and that Sohail even owes his lawyers $50,000.
I made it clear that they, as a PUBLIC company are claiming MILLIONS in profits / earnings, and that either he is lying to us or to shareholders, and either way he and Hillard are paying their bills somehow.
They constantly say they are travelling to England, Singapore, New York, LA, etc. but claim that they have NO MONEY to pay me.
Sohail said on the phone with witnesses that “Rahi, as god as my witness, I am a god fearing man, and as soon as I have the money to pay you your losses I will. What kind of a RUTHLESS man do you think I am that I would be okay with your mother losing her retirement savings? And I will pay you PERSONALLY, because my partner Hillard would object to Bergamo paying you for MY (Sohail’s) MISTAKES in Pakistan”.
I Promptly replied “If an IBM Vice President makes a mistake and IBM loses $1M, does the Vice President pay from his own pocket for the loss? Does that even make any sense?”
I asked that Bergamo pay me and Sohail pay me, but that the total is the amount I was asking for.
Sohail agreed many times to me and our mutual contact and both of us at once that I will be reimbursed for losses as a result of Bergamo’s inability to meet the requirements of the LOI.
Soon thereafter he stopped talking to me (by now its late August) , telling out mutual contact that he has nothing to say to me, and that he is working on getting the money and that it will be any day now.
Since then I waited patiently, then when the time came that I had given them to respond to my pleas for humanity and good business practice.
Here is just a sample from as early as May!
Sohail,
I will address your concerns in order:
1. What are these tGOP interests and what size of systems and how many do they want and when? My prices are as low as they come.
2. BGMO and BB Solar have not signed a shareholder agreement, thus BGMO cannot demand that we stop spending money or do anything until that is signed…but let me assure you that we are NOT spending any money because I am bankrupt as it is.
3. Terms of delivery and service of any sales are the property of BB Solar until a shareholder agreement is signed.
4. USAID is expired as far as we know and even if it was not, the increase in cost for US components is almost as much as the savings to the customers.
5. The MOU we signed was actually an LOI and not a contract, and BGMO has not met the requirements we laid out for you in that LOI. Therefore a new agreement must be made, because the existing LOI’s terms were not met and it is voided.
6. We are happy to come and visit you and Hillard in Vegas to discuss our next step, at your cost (again I am bankrupt), but before that happens we need to be paid for the expenses incurred to date and that Sohail has promised over the phone to me and both *** brothers (to date it is $58,000 CDN). Once my costs are covered and my parents’ money is returned, then we will visit Vegas to discuss our mutually successful future.
7. Please let me know who your auditors and accountants / experts are who will evaluate our proposals, as we need to make sure they meet our requirements.
We are getting lots of response from Pakistan and Babar is doing a great job getting our name out there. We are already competing for more than one 20kW system and sales are inevitable. What needs to happen next is that Bergamo reimburses me the costs that I have incurred, or at least the costs over and above the cost of the demo ($52,300).
Furthermore, I want to remind you that on more than one occasion we were promised reimbursement of our expenses, and full financing for operations, over the phone by Sohail and have no doubt that he will deliver on his welcoming promise.
Once my parents are reimbursed, we can move forward and come to Vegas, share sales information, sign a new agreement / LOI / MOU, and a shareholder agreement.
Thank you,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
****
Here is another email from me to them:
Sohail,
I am doing my best to defend Bergamo but your investors are bombarding my email and message boards. This is going to hurt The Big Leaf as well if we do not say something to them about our meeting or the funding.
I will continue to defend BGMO and tell people that I am patient.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Do we not have any updates at all?
You (Sohail) are treating me like a dog or a peasant that is only good for free work.
What did I do to you to deserve this treatment?
Remember each time you asked me to come up with a quote or an analysis or a letter or a website change? I did all those things. Remember when I asked that you repay me the amount you said you would? Nothing happened. You stopped talking to me.
Why are you doing this?
I know you and Hillard have money. I am not stupid Sohail. You cannot live in Las Vegas and pay for accountants and airplane trips around the world without having money.
I am not asking for $1,000,000 or some outrageous amount. I am asking you to put me back to where I was before you and Bergamo made me lose it all out of the inability to meet some simple requirements in our LOI.
What more do you want from me, the world, the **** brothers?
What are you waiting for? I don’t want $1B, I want my losses covered.
Time to be a man.
RSVP
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 5:15 PM
To: 'Rahi Tajzadeh'
Cc: sohailbergamo@aol.com
Subject: your compensation
Hi Rahi
Just finished a detailed conversation with Sohail who himself is earnest to get this resolved, and make sure you get paid.
According to Sohail they are in the last lap of their efforts to get the funding in place and every body would know because they will have a press release for public knowledge.
He has not blocked your email s but does not want to respond as he has nothing more to say
Sohail assured me that it is a matter of time and would appreciate if you could exercise patience as this will help him a lot to focus on the issue. My younger brother is on the same page as myself
Appreciate your cooperation and I also need a break for a couple of days as this is getting stressful for myself also.
Let us have a positive outlook and sincerely hope Sohail will do the needful to fulfill his obligations
Bye for now
***
And another from me:
Sohail and Hillard.
My next step is to issue an official invoice for my work and losses due to the inability of Bergamo to meet the requirements of the LOI.
This is because you are NOT answering my emails, or text messages, and feel that ignoring me will make me go away.
I give you 1 day to reply and arrange payment of my fees and losses as you agreed over the phone.
I know you both have millions of shares, and money, and invoicing is my next step.
I truly wish it would not come to this but you seem to feel that I am stupid or naïve.
The invoice is below and I will officially issue it to you tomorrow if you do not reply TODAY.
Rahi
Here is where I drew a line in the sand:
Sohail, Hillard,
I asked you yesterday in an email which was delivered to each of your email addresses to please reply and confirm you received the email and to respond to continuing requests to reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you will do.
I asked that you reply before today otherwise I would officially issue the invoice.
You did not reply and I am forced to issue the invoice and take this to the next level.
Let me remind you that you brought me to this point by:
- Lying about owning Greensafe and other companies when I met you in November 2011.
- Knowingly lying in press releases and BigBiz radio show about BB Solar’s progress in Pakistan (i.e. “we had a successful demo and it is already up and running”).
- Not meeting the requirements of the LOI and leaving me stranded in Pakistan.
- Not being able to set up the demo and having it STOLEN by “your people”.
- Lying to me about saving me money on hotel and airfare costs.
- Lying to me about quotes and system designs that you didn’t ever follow up on (at least 6 times): why would you ask me to make you various system quotes without an RFP or any EVIDENCE that there are customers.
- Lying to me about having an office.
- Lying to me about your financial situation “we do not have money” and at the same time telling shareholders that you do have money.
- Lying on your financial statements about earning $80 Million, but not having enough to reimburse me $60,000+.
- Lying about knowing government officials, and other “guaranteed sales” like hospital owners, business owners, etc.
- Lying about ***** paying for my hotel.
- Lying about your (Sohail) sister saving me money on my hotel.
- Lying about Babar Mirza and his father about saving me money on my hotel.
- Losing the trust of Babar and his Father (they do not want to do any business with you as they do not trust you at all).
- Lying about bribing government officials to “get us easy sales” which is illegal.
The invoice is below as a picture, and attached as a separate file.
My next step, if you ignore me, is to go to a collections agency and take legal action.
I will also make sure that ALL OF YOUR SHAREHOLDERS know about the ENTIRE story of BB Solar and Bergamo INCLUDING Hillard KNOWINGLY lying about BB Solar, The Big Leaf, Bergamo, and our mutual progress, which is VERY ILLEGAL.
I have no problems with letting the WHOLE WORLD know what is happening from an objective point of view, telling my story of losing my savings, my job, my mother’s retirement money, and my girlfriend.
Obviously you have money and stock which you could have paid me with, but now I will ONLY accept a certified cheque or wire transfer.
All you had to do, was set up a simple press conference, and ensure that Nassim and Wassim would not STEAL my equipment, and make sure I had the accommodations that you claimed I would have in Pakistan…but you failed to meet ALL of the requirements of the LOI.
You made another mistake by saying on the phone three times, with Malik and Shakir Malik as witnesses (which I will get an affidavit from them) about you, Sohail, personally paying me back all of my losses…which means that if Bergamo ignores this email and invoice as well, I will legally go after you Sohail personally.
What you do in the next 24 hours will determine what kind of men you are, Hillard and Sohail.
The mistake of thinking that I am an idiot or so naïve is very wrong.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
After this Sohail called me and told me to go F*&K myself, while telling our mutual contact that he STILL wants to pay me.
Here is another email from me:
Sohail, Hillard,
It has not been a week since I sent you an invoice and was yelled at by Sohail and told to “go f $k myself”.
I am giving you another chance to redeem yourselves as honest, good businessmen.
You have an opportunity to save your stock price and your respect in the investment community, and all you have to do is reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you would.
Once again please understand that you brought me to this point by continually making statements about meeting me in June, July, August, September, etc.
Furthermore I am not comfortable with the stress and anxiety both **** brothers have to go through just for me, it is not fair to them, and they would be perfectly happy if YOU MET THE REQURIEMTENTS OF THE LOI.
The time is now to send me a certified cheque via mail.
What’s your next move, I look forward to hearing from you.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
And another:
You now have an opportunity to increase your stock price dramatically.
It sits at $0.0184, which is a 75%+ loss since I met you both in November.
None of your business dealings are increasing your stock price, and each time my name comes up the price drops again.
Do you want to keep losing money by not fulfilling your obligations?
Is it worth not paying me a measly $68,000 that you will risk losing millions in stock value?
Do you realize you are ruining real people’s lives who invested in your company by letting the stock price fall like this?
Those people will be your enemies for life, and unlike a mild mannered Rahi, they may take legal action against you both very soon.
So again, I ask,
Is it worth losing your corporation, years of work, millions in stock value, and the opportunity to dump more shares in the future just to save a paltry $60-$70 thousand?
If that is the case, then you are not good businessmen. Simple.
When a restaurant owes money to waiters or suppliers, they pay up BEFORE customers walk in the door, now it’s your turn.
Rahi
***
Then Hillard finally replies with a THREAT, including a junk reference to incorrect country of origin for the components, and my response to it as well:
Hi Hillard Nice to hear from you finally.
I have one simple thing to say about your email.
BB Solar’s comment, my comment was made AFTER I made an assessment in Pakistan on my OWN money and OWN work with Babar, NOT BEFORE my trip.
The quote you refer to is below:
“The BB Solar chief said that most residents, farmers, commercial and industrial markets are looking for higher quality Canadian, American and German products while more economical and Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious.”
The comment was made AFTER MY PRODUCTS WERE STOLEN BY YOUR PEOPLE and AFTER I met with officials in Pakistan that I set up the interview with Babar’s help, NOT YOURS. So you should really do your homework.
Note that it also says that Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious. Note that your email below does NOT refer to this part of the interview, and you are again distorting facts. Nothing I have said has been inflammatory and I am insulted that you would attack me after my patience with you and Sohail.
I have already invoiced you for losses, and will not communicate with you further unless you have my payment ready.
Please make payments payable to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc. or BB Solar Inc. as you see fit.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Please remove all references to BB Solar from your website and iHUB page immediately.
Yesterday was the due date on the invoice I sent you.
Rahi.
***
And the last email indicating a late fee and collections charges:
Sohail, Hillard, Bergamo,
The deadline for paying the invoice I sent has come and gone, and as a result I have added a suitable late fee, and a collections charge to the original invoice.
The new invoice is attached, and below for your reference.
If you do not contact me to indicate how you will be paying me, I will take this to a high powered, reputable, experienced collections agency.
Please note that I know the radio interview was PAID FOR, indicating that you HAVE money.
Thank you and make all payments in the form of wire transfer or certified cheque to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc., payments are to be made in Canadian Dollars.
Rahi
So in conclusion, does anyone here believe that Bergamo is the perfect organization they make themselves out to be? Perhaps the fact that ALL THE COMPANIES in their portfolio are either non existent, or belong to someone else. Or maybe it’s the Haanz Group that claims they own many companies that have never heard of the Haanz Group.
My next step is collections, then a law suit. Can I count on you (honest shareholders’) support?
I have no products or claims.
Bergamo knew of the products I shipped and even put them on their website.
If I am irresponsible then why did Bergamo's friends in Pakistan STEAL my demo?
If it was so inferior then why didn't they just return it to me?
Any details on my website were put on with Bergamo's knowledge and support.
Beware of ME? I am not selling anything. Bergamo is selling stock based on NOTHING.
Frauds!
Wrong, I knew something was wrong when I arrived in Pakistan and was marooned.
You hold me responsible for Bergamo's failures?
I have proof on my side.
Actually Hillard and Sohail told me what prices to set.
Get your facts right,
They also knew about Chinese components.
60% of the market is Chinese, so is 60% of the market rubbish?
BGMO is a fraud
Potential Shareholders and Current Stock Owners. Please do your due diligence on this Fraudulent company. They are no more than 2 guys in a room with no revenue stream, no money, no staff, no phone numbers, no emails, no real website, no customers, no past history of customers, no acquisitions, no hope for survival, no ethics, no care about you or your money.
The fraud will be made clear if it hasn't already.
Any investor with 5 minutes of time will know to stay very clear of this company.
Lions and Tigers are not good metaphors for Fraud (to Bergamo).
An argument based on semantics?
How does that prove that the financial "documents" aren't a compilation of fraud?
LL Bradford did what they were supposed to: put together HH's numbers in a way that balanced the balance sheet. Done.
No verification was done because the disclaimer makes it clear.
Semantics?
New and Potential Shareholders BEWARE OF THIS FRAUDULENT COMPANY.
THERE IS NOTHING TO INVEST IN
Existing shareholders have a right to sue as a class action for gross negligence
Perhaps Bergamo did not count on my conscience.
Have I made mistakes in the past? Yes.
Do I regret them? 95% of them.
Did I do Everything Bergamo asked of me? Yes.
Did my team help me for free in the hopes that Bergamo would fund us as they promised? Yes.
Did I try to salvage the trip and make my own press conferences and business meetings that Bergamo failed to do? Yes.
Did I give Sohail and Hillard "Two more weeks" to pay me as the promised? I gave them 6 months!
Did Sohail tell me and others in multiple conversations that he will reimburse me all my losses? Yes.
Are shareholders losing their wealth / earning / life savings because Bergamo is mismanaging the company? IMHO Yes.
Did the stock price drop ~75% since I met them? Yes.
Did I have anything to do with the drop? NO! (see below)
I worked HARD for these guys and put in my life savings and my mothers retirement / savings ONLY because of Sohail's persistent guarantees that sales are in the bag and palms are greased. Despite not believing him at the time about the greased palms, I did believe that he knew government officials and wealthy citizens looking to upgrade their diesel generators to solar.
I would not have believed him if I did MORE due diligence...and if he did not bombard me with useless work - creating quotes for systems and large farms etc. that all went nowhere...not even an RFP for any of them was presented to us...just a "I need a quote for 950 systems..."
If there is always two sides to a story, Bergamo can either address my points in an objective manner WITH evidence that at the least matches the quality of mine, or we will see in court.
Thank you for your support!
New and Existing Shareholders Please BEWARE of this company.
Ask to see their revenue streams
Ask to see their office(s)
Ask to see their staff and speak with them
Demand to know who the subsidiaries REALLY are
Demand to know why they have been negligent so many times
Demand to know why their CEO publicly lies to shareholders and stakeholders
Demand justice
Past history is an excellent indicator of future behaviour.
I am glad it is acknowledged.
Repeated fraudulent claims and business practices will yield consistent shareholder losses and court cases.
Bergamo is and was negligent in our dealings with them.
They couldn't arrange a press conference.
They couldn't arrange a shipping destination (otherwise I would have picked one no problems).
They couldn't arrange my accommodations.
They couldn't tell me WHO is going to buy from me as they were supposed to.
They couldn't help with my hotel bill as they promised.
They couldn't tell the truth about what companies they own.
They cannot run a business no matter how much praise they get.
All lies will be brought to light in court. :)
You are correct, HH did lie to me about owning Greensafe and Suntrough and other companies.
I have the physical evidence for these lies, not just hearsay.
I have multiple sources and witnesses.
Sad day for Bergamo Investors. I feel sorry for them. They did not deserve to lose all their money.
That Delaware corporation is another Bergamo.
Prove me wrong Bergamo.
You (Sohail and Hillard) Claim to be taking $40M each in compensation? How about paying your loyal shareholders dividends!
I know BGMO didn't earn $88M, and don't have the money to pay a dividend because Bergamo are frauds.
Prove me wrong Bergamo, show a bank statement, not a compilation that is full of disclaimers.
BEWARE THIS IS A FRAUDULENT Company.
Please do your due diligence!
They have no office, no staff, no revenues, no sales receipts, nothing but lies at Bergamo.
Don't lose your money!
Share prices are a reflection of the present value of future cash flows.
Bergamo cannot show WHERE their cash comes from, Where it goes, HOW much they have today, or WHY they don't pay out dividends.
If there is not a RUSH to buy these uber cheap shares, it is because rational, profit oriented investors have already spoken (through NOT purchasing the stock) and said in effect:
"I do not trust HH and SP and BERGAMO because they cannot show where they get their money, where they spend their money, where they keep their money, how they made money, what are their revenue streams, future plans, etc."
The proof is in the pudding, and no one is buying this batch!
BB Solar: A Summary:How Bergamo Failed to meet their end of the bargain and lied about EVERYTHING: Read on!
This is an objective, unbiased account of the last year for The Big Leaf and Rahi Tajzadeh. No NDA was ever signed by Rahi or Bergamo or any parties therein. All accounts can be backed with email and affidavits as needed.
Note that most emails will not be listed in this report…but I can safely say that none of the emails I received were sent confidentially…rather there were often stakeholders CC’d on emails.
I own The Big Leaf, a solar energy R&D company in Ontario Canada, which was focused on designing a proprietary solar generator (existing technology), and innovations in solar business modeling.
To pay for the bills at The Big Leaf I held a 9-5 job as an IT Technical Analyst, making a conservative $4,000 a month, and lived at home with mom and dad, while frequently visiting my girlfriend who lived 60km (30m) away.
A great friend of mine introduced me through his acquaintance to Sohail Parekh in Late Summer of 2011. In the first telephone conversation I was told that Bergamo is a $400 Million company that acquires existing businesses and finances their sales and operations as needed.
Sohail said that he needs a company that can sell solar energy equipment, systems, water pumps etc. in Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, and some African Countries.
I made it clear that The Big Leaf does NOT have experience in those countries but CAN design systems for use there, and is happy to work on building the necessary infrastructure to develop full sales and support in said regions...but that we would need funding, and Marketing in these regions, even as a Canadian company, is difficult and potentially expensive.
Sohail said that this is exactly what Bergamo does, they fund companies like ours, and that they have enough social and political ties in those regions that the sales will be basically set up ahead of time.
He asked me to give him details on water pumping solar systems and prices, and that he is interested in working with me exclusively…except for one other solar water pump company that is supplying them, owned by a guy named Steve. (I never found out what the company name was or who Steve was).
By July 22 of 2011 I had already sent my first email to Sohail asking for more details such as water requirements (litres per day, per hour, pump power [W or hp], well depth, etc.)
They replied promptly and answered my questions but it was clear that the answers were not given by engineers, rather business people, because the specifications seemed to change over time. (more on that later).
A few days later Sohail asked me to quote Solar Generators for home use, ranging from 10kW to 50kW, including maximum monthly supply available from suppliers, how many parts / complete systems can fit in a 40’ container etc. The email made it seem like large orders would be placed and that a JIT system or conservative sales estimates for market penetration and year over year growth were not being considered for whatever reason.
I offered an NDA to Bergamo but they claimed that we would sign their NDA in a telephone conversation (never happened), and sent the first of many proposals, quotes, presentations, etc. The proposal I sent was to fund The Big Leaf as a system provider to Pakistan, India, etc., as well as developing its own IP (the Clover…can’t say anything about this, sorry!).
The proposal was 17 pages considering I had less than a week to complete it, and they thanked me for the proposal but never spoke of it again.
A few days later I was asked to quote more systems, this time for buildings (apartment, business, etc.). Ranging from 5kW – 50kW. Again I replied with quotes.
Bergamo sent me a detailed email on: “The procedure of the Finance for Proposed Financing of The Big Leaf.”. In their own words. The email stated that:
***
I already had sent a proposal, and now they wanted a full business plan, which made sense to me, but the viability portion of the email had me concerned, and in telephone conversations Sohail told me that he can get us sales far beyond the $500M mentioned, and all we need to do is run the business while he accommodates sales.
I sent a detailed email indicating what technologies we work with, and why our IP is worth their investment, and that we are in the process of completing a short business plan (20-30 pages). By this time I was hard at work arranging suppliers and the business plan.
By August 15th we had sent a detailed quote on multiple systems to Bergamo.
***
I sent this email to Sohail:
Sohail,
I noticed that Bergamo is already offering solar pumps (some look like they are on a tracker) for about $3 / Watt installed.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/
If they are not connected to a solar tracker and do not have batteries then of course we can provide a system that does. But if this is your cost including a tracker then we must re-evaluate our quote, as we have been using average industry prices to be conservative (under promise and over perform).
If there is no tracker then we can be of assistance to provide systems with trackers and we can work together to attain the best PV panel cost which it looks as though you already are getting!
Furthermore I know of a manufacturer that may be able to beat almost any PV cost and still provide excellent warranty and performance and quality.
Let me know what you think…I am still preparing the summary business plan.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
By September 2nd we sent a 4 page detailed quote on 80 systems (PV and CPV) that we felt would do well in the markets mentioned above.
***
On September 7th another email came my way from Sohail, with a powerpoint of solar tube well systems with Bergamo’s name on the presentation, as though it was their systems…but the images were from online resources. The email asked me to make a comparison to these products and Sohail said in a telephone conversation that this was “Steve’s Company”.
Here is the email (note the misspelling of my name):
A further email indicated that my SUPPLIER is to bear the cost of a demo in Pakistan:
By September 6th a Presentation was also sent to Bergamo for The Big Leaf’s new venture with Bergamo.
By September 9th I had a presentation to match the one Sohail sent me on the water pumping systems from “Steve” with Bergamo written all over the presentation. It is safe to say that by this time I was spending any waking moment I had on this venture because I was led to believe that Bergamo is the real deal.
I spoke with Sohail and Hillard a few times in September where Hillard proceeded to yell at me and say my prices are too high…which didn’t make sense to me because the prices were industry average and included a 1 axis tracker and installation, which other quotes “Steve” did not have. Also the quotes I sent were about 15%-25% above what they wanted, which is exactly how much MORE ELECTRICITY is generated when you install a 1 axis tracker in Pakistan (exact numbers are 15%-18% but that depends on exact location).
Revised presentations were sent with updated prices.
I was sent an email with a sample Letter of Intent (note the spelling mistakes), which I did not agree to because of the contents. Here are some of the contents in the sample LOI which was sent with no NON DISCLOSURE clauses:
***
Note that Bergamo wanted PROPRIETARY RIGHTS to the products which was completely unacceptable.
Furthermore let me make it clear that Sohail and Hillard told me that the role of having 2 companies go to demo in Pakistan (The Big Leaf and Steve’s company) was to instill a feeling of competition or at least to make it seem like multiple bids were being placed and that there was real competition, when in fact Bergamo wanted the profits (60% or more) from both companies. I felt very uneasy but was reassured that this is the way business with governments works.
Whenever I mentioned lawyers Sohail asked me to keep them out of things as it would be too expensive. On multiple telephone conversations this occurred, especially in relation to the LOI.
By October 2nd, I had not signed their LOI and they were pushing me with emails like the following:
***
Please note that the email states that “other” company is ready to demo in two weeks. Sohail pressured me to get a demo to Pakistan ASAP and sign the LOI.
I responded saying that I can present in Pakistan in Late November at the earliest, and that we cannot INSTALL the demo in Pakistan as we have no infrastructure there to do so, nor did we have a confirmed demo site.
By October 6th a pro forma income statement with viable sales figures was emailed to Sohail. He responded with an “OK”.
October 13th, Sohail sent me 6+ photos of supposed Bergamo officers with top government officials. Sohail, Hillard, and at least one recognizable government official are in one picture, with the rest being people I do not know. The email that the pictures came with had nothing written in it.
A phone call from Sohail followed where he indicated that the government officials are “My people, my friends from childhood…”, and that I was not to worry about getting any sales in Pakistan, India, etc., and that getting the sales is Bergamo’s job, while running the business was my job.
I received a pleasant letter to Bergamo from a minister in Pakistan indicating that he is very interested in seeing the demo in “Late November or earlier”, and that Bergamo has their support. This minister will not be named in this report, but I will call him John Doe.
Hillard sent me an email on October 22 with their competitors systems listed, most were made with Chinese components which are the most cost effective right now.
A new LOI was drafted and the suggestion of a new venture was made in an email by Sohail:
***
I was working with them on the LOI when this email arrived:
(more systems were listed in the email but this is a good sample).
***
By November 15th I was scheduled to fly to meet Hillard and Sohail in Nevada some time around my birthday (nov 22).
***
By this time we had a business plan, system quoting tools, suppliers set up, and staff ready to work.
Also by this time I was under the impression that a Late November trip was expected, even though I knew it was impossible without travel VISAs and other accommodations…so I suggested December.
Note that by this time I had already blocked off my vacation time from my 9-5 job because over multiple telephone conversations Sohail asked me to be ready to present in Late November.
Then I had to change that vacation time again to Late December, which Sohail agreed to over the phone.
Here is a sample of my emails to Sohail, to give you an idea of my mood:
Gentlemen,
Thank you for your ongoing support. I will reach an agreement with the **** brothers within a few days. In the meantime I am working on the solar generators you are asking for. I still require all the pertinent data for the attached visa application.
Sohail, can you provide me with a list of people and places I will present this generator to/in? I want to be prepared for these presentations so any important information is key. Also, I want to work together with BAC to share resources wherever possible (i.e. we need to outsource marketing rather than do it in house – including graphics, website, and videos). If you already have resources or contacts that would be ideal as it will help control costs.
I am putting together the team that will run BB Solar (Dir of Sales, Dir of Bus Development, CFO, etc.) and want to know how you wish me to set this up. Let’s discuss this further in emails.
We have much to do, and a great opportunity is ahead of us, let’s make the best of it!
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
So I went to Las Vegas, met Sohail and Hillard in Hillard’s house, and in his computer room we drafted the last copy of the LOI.
In that room I was told by Hillard that Bergamo owns many companies like GreenSafe Demanufacturing, and their core business is complementary acquisitions: he stated that Greensafe receives its raw materials for free via train, and on the return trip, the empty rail cars are filled with concrete which Bergamo’s subsidiary uses in New York to do road work. He made it sound very sophisticated and foolproof.
Hillard gave me a “portfolio” of companies that they claimed to own, including Greensafe, and asked me to “look through it” and see what they (Bergamo) really do. I did so and thanked them for showing me the “portfolio”.
I call it a “portfolio” because it was a seried of power point presentation slides with various company summaries, which were vague, far too short to mean anything, didn’t indicate any complementary business strategy, or even make me believe it was a real document at all…it seemed like random powerpoint slides…I did not take heed of that red flag.
Later on that same “portfolio” was emailed to me as Bergamo’s business plan, where I was to add BB Solar to the random group of slides. Where Dr. Ghaus’s airplane company also was added. (look up Dr. Ghaus if you want).
Sohail told me that Hillard really likes me and that this will be a great business relationship and that The Big Leaf / BB Solar will receive full funding.
Here is a nice email from Sohail after we signed an LOI in Nevada, in Hillards house, on my birthday (note the spelling mistakes):
A few days later I received a call from Sohail indicating Bergamo received $1B and that he wanted ME to contact my local news stations and newspapers to spread the news. I received this email:
***
No details in the email other than the above link were present. No details were made clear to me about the origins, nature, or form of the $1B. I did not contact any news organizations as I felt the information was not credible.
***
By November 30th, Sohail was still not clear on what system and what prices he wanted in the demo, and I received this email:
***
I asked Sohail in a telephone conversation to stop posting on the website and on press releases or radio shows that any of the systems provided are “proprietary” as they were / are not. Solar Systems are pieced together using off the shelf components 95% of the time. It is rare that a technology company install its own solar systems save for CPV systems (SolFocus, Morgan Solar etc.).
By November 30th I was ready to go to and present in Pakistan around December 20, IF the equipment could be shipped ASAP. It was not, because of Bergamo’s inability to get us necessary details:
By December 6th it was apparent that the December trip was to be delayed again. For one I could not get an address to ship my components to (Sohail was to provide all accommodations for the demo in Pakistan), nor a receiver’s name, nor any details on the press conference for the demo which they promised, nor the list of people I would be presenting to, nor the expected sales for the first trip (other than Sohail’s telephone promises of “More sales that you can handle!”).
I received this email on December 6th:
***
The email was encouraging but I had to delay my vacation time block at my 9-5 job AGAIN to late January which upset my boss very much, but Sohail assured me over the phone that by then everything will be set.
By December 4th I had a full presentation ready for the press conference in Pakistan, complete with speech, music, and powerpoint / handouts.
By this time I still had not received Visa Application information, consignee information, press conference information, accommodation information, “Steve’s” company’s updates (where are they, why are they not in the picture, are they still going with me?, etc.)
Regarding the above email, I was concerned that the importer wanted 50% of the profits indefinitely. Sohail emailed me this response and called me indicating the profit sharing with the importer was a one time thing:
***
My response:
I am happy to split with the distributor this one time…but in the future we cannot split profits! You are giving away 50% of our markup? That means the effective markup for each system is 50%, not 100%. If we split, it is the same as saying Bergamo gets 30% of GP and Big Leaf gets 20% of GP, and not the LOI’s quote of 60% and 40%.
Distributors can take a cut but 50% is unjustified.
***
Then more red flags. Sohail claimed the demo will take place early January, when shipping takes weeks, and he sends me an email indicating that the profit margins on the systems he asked me to send in the email above should only be $1,000…which to me sounds like dishonest business practice because the DISTRIBUTOR / IMPORTER would set the final retail price…
I was ok with this happening one time, but was uncomfortable in general:
The low markup is fine for this container and I agree that we have to take this hit to demo.
I have no objections with it at all.
I just want to clarify that distributors in the FUTURE will not take 50% of the profit.
This container’s distributor is free to take 50% of the profit.
Good?
Rahi.
***
And this email from me as well:
Just to confirm what I will be quoting:
20’ container
1. 25% of which is DC water pump system with panels, pump, and control box.
2. 25% of which is AC water pump system with panels, pump, control box, and inverter.
3. 50% of which will be filled EVENLY with:
a. 5KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
b. 10KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
c. 20KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
d. 30KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
e. 50KV Generator with Panels, Inverter, and Control Box.
Markup will be $1,000 per Water Pump System.
Markup will be $1,000 per 2KV for Generators (i.e. 10KV system has a $5,000 markup which is about 17% markup, and the 20KV system has a $10,000 markup which is about 9% markup)
Profits will be split with distributor for this one container.
Shipment will be for February 4-8th 2012.
As for how many systems we can fit into the container I have to wait for the suppliers response, which will include the final price.
Sounds good?
***
Since Sohail wanted a demo in Early January, I switched my vacation from late January with another colleague to early January, upsetting my boss again, and I put pressure on Sohail to get me shipping details because shipping from china can take weeks.
He replied with this email:
Ship To
Mr. Mujtaba Ghaus
***
I responded with:
Can I use the same address for the VISA application?
Cheers!
Rahi.
, He replied : YES.
***
Still on December 6th I receive this email:
***
Note that Steve’s company is mentioned again.
I received an email which had a google document with Banca Intesa STA and $1B indicated…but I could not make sense of the document as it was not coherent or reliable in any way.
Another email indicated the ministers are looking forward to seeing us:
Mr. Rahi Tajzadeh and Mr. Dmytro Khimich
Attached Please Find Invitation Letter from Bergamo Global Energy Private Limited. We will need B/L for the Demo model that was shipped to Pakistan to get duty exemption from Goverment of Pakistan.
http://bergamoenergy.com/solar-pump/ministers-letter/
Attached is link Invitation from Minister for Irrigation Mr. Jam Saif Ullah Khan. If you need any confirmation then the consulate office may contact his office directly.
Thanks
Sohail Parekh
www.bergamoenergy.com
***
Note the link points to a dead URL now.
***
Here is where the REAL trouble starts.
Shipping problems: Bill of landing issues, port authority issues, etc. Here is an email indicating the beginning of the problems, NONE of which was indicated by the actual port authority, rather Sohail’s contacts (most likely Dr. Ghaus).
***
More problems, and more people I do not know, and more issues that SHOULD have been cleared up or expected considering Bergamo’s supposed experience in Pakistan:
***
More delays, and I had to change my vacation block again:
***
From December 6th onwards this went on, all of it should have been easy to settle. By this time I had made a promotional video, website, presentations, handouts, systems were designed, suppliers set up,etc.
By December 27th I was becoming concerned about the timeliness of things, and I recognized a pattern:
Whenever I was concerned about something, or asked too many questions, Sohail or Hillard would ask me to come up with a new quote, usually very large systems, or to add BB Solar to their “Master File”.
NOTE: The Master File they sent me was the same as the powerpoint slide “portfolio” I saw in Hillards house (save for a few changes) and STILL AT THIS TIME included Greensafe, Suntrough, and Platinum Funding.
I still have this document of course, and they asked me to add BB Solar AND FALCON Airplane company…which made me question whether they had the resources to create even a single business plan for Bergamo…which I had not seen…
Also please note that this Master File was referred to by Sohail as Bergamo’s Business Plan.
Here is an email I received to give you an indication of what we are talking about:
***
I was sent Hillards Big Biz Radio Interview and put it on BB Solar’s site…but I was very concerned about his comments regarding equipment already being in Pakistan and things going well, even my retired mother felt this was dishonest.
Then Hillard emails me asking me to put the following on my BB Solar website:
on bbsolar.ca Web Site
Presentation Confirmation with the Minister to be held in Pakistan Jan 2nd, 2012 by Bergamo associates in Pakistan.
* Bergamo’s Joint Venture Partner’s to Arrange an event in Sindh Province ( Tando Allah Yar) at a Farm the gathering would be for 50 to 60 growers plus approx 40 to 50 guests from Media- Local Businessman and Government officials will be invited including local Member of Parliaments and Minister of that area local media will be invited to attend the demonstration.
*Lunch, Tea, Lecture session, demonstration and other related activities would be arranged at farm level.
Similar Event will take place in Indus Hotel Hyderabad.
Punjab Marriott Hotel, Pear Continental Hotel. And Guest will be taken to the demonstration site or brought back to the hotel for further details of possible sales.
Generators for Home's etc etc
Pumps for Tubewells
***
I did not because the dates are all wrong and there were details in the email that I was not aware of (for example which hotels, cities, etc.).
Then more shipping problems, needing original bill of landing etc…
On January 1st it seems to me that things with Dr. Ghaus changed such that he did not want to work with Sohail anymore, and I received this disturbing email indicating I shipped too early…when he wanted me in Pakistan in Late DECEMBER!!!!:
***
Note that all NECESSARY DOCUMENTS were eventually fedexed and telexed from China and that our supplier in China has NEVER had issues shipping components, nor did they understand the need for an original document instead of a fax, scan, email, etc.
Also note that Sohail gave me the shipping address of Dr. Ghaus, asking me to demo in EARLY JANUARY, knowing I cannot ship until I had the address and that shipping takes weeks.
Note that Bergamo did not take into account shipping time in general.
Note that I sent Bergamo emails indicating that I will be happy to pay the charges for shipping without original bill of landing, but they refused, and asked for Bill of Landing, Commercial Invoice, etc.
All of this shipping headache indicated to me that Bergamo’s acquaintances in Pakistan were not ready to receive large shipments. I am not sure why I continued from this point on…Perhaps it was the many many telephone conversations where Sohail told me he is my brother, and loves me, and will not let anything happen to me.
All of a sudden, on January 7th, everything seems fine with the shipping…here is an email from Sohail:
***
So things seemed fine…then the bill of landing which I FEDEXED to them from CHINA was not able to be received…it was addressed to Dr Ghaus, and Sohail told me that someone else (unknown who) went to pick it up and they have it and it is gone…
Chinese suppliers told me they do not have another original copy and that this is not reasonable in any sense.
Apparently a guy named Ali Mehmood picked up the bill of landing as per an email from Sohail on January 12…it is still missing at this point.
All documents were arranged by the Chinese suppliers despite the inconvenience and resent to Sohail’s contacts.
***
Once again to keep me quiet and ‘busy’ sohail sends me a document indicating that there will be a bridge built for $1B in Bangladesh (Sohail misspelled Bangladesh), and that he wants ME to put in a bid for it for Bergamo.
On the phone he said that Bergamo and The Big Leaf can run the operation for the bridge while a CHINESE company would do the work. We would act like middle men.
Here is the email:
***
Note that The Big Leaf and BB Solar are / were in no way ready to place a serious bid for the construction of a bridge.
I then receive this vague email from Sohail making claims that I could not stand by. He indicated that this will likely be a press release:
***
More emails were sent to me indicating Bergamo has $400 M… by this time (January 18th), a late January demo was out of the question and AGAIN I had to delay my vacation block at my 9-5 work.
This was the last time for my boss who did not renew my contract as a direct result of this, and even indicated to me “I’m sure you will do fine at your other job”.
***
From this point on (Jan 20), another name came into the picture, Waseem.
This email below from Sohail indicates that BERGAMO KNEW AND WAS ON BOARD WITH CHINESE PRODUCTS / COMPONENTS:
***
Then more trouble with Dr Ghaus who could not receive the products, would not accept me paying him for any fees he would pay, and not cooperating with anyone.
Finally after months of trouble, Sohail send me a link to the import rules for Pakistan…something that Dr. Ghaus should have done 90 days prior.
***
On January 25, I get this email which is vague and cryptic:
***
Again I comply and make the quotes but am not sure who Nasim is.
Sohail made it clear in multiple emails that I HAVE TO ALWAYS indicate that BB Solar is a JV Partner of Bergamo etc…even though no contract outside of an LOI was signed to indicate as such, and no ownership was transferred.
Note that Bergamo NEVER ONCE asked to sign a contract or transfer ownership, or write in the official documents that Hillard and Sohail and I are on the board of directors which is what they wanted.
Here is a sample email from Sohail:
***
Again I receive an email asking me to make another quote, this time for 950 pumps and 35000 gallons an hour.
I felt like they were just keeping me busy but since they never said who the quotes I am making are going to, or what the context is, or time frame etc. I felt like more was going on that I was led to believe.
By the end of January they still could not get my equipment out of customs, and whenever I wanted to intervene or just go to Pakistan to get it out myself, Sohail would tell me that these are “his people” and this is “his country” and he knows how things work.
I received this email:
***
The above is all that’s listed in the email…
Then another twist, this time Waseem and Nasim are named together, here is the email (note the spelling of my name is wrong again)
***
Here is Sohail trying to get something done about the shipping fiasco:
***
January 29th, Sohail emails me something he sent to Nasim and Waseem, regarding a 5MW solar powerplant. He asked me in a telephone conversation to make a quote for this system (even though it is CSP, and most likely the SunTrough deal that fell through).
By this time I had quoted the 950 pumps, the 500kW systems+, and made a generic price list for systems ranging from 5kW – 50MW+
One day later, Sohail asked me to quote solar powered cell phone towers.
I don’t think he realized the amount of work that goes into quoting systems, especially if they are new, such as solar cell towers.
I made a quote nevertheless in an effort to be a good partner.
Then I suggested to Sohail, in passing, that investing $1B+ in solar panels installed along the top 10 major highways in Pakistan could power much of Karachi.
Sohail jumped on it and asked me to make him an official quote. He said he sent the highway quote to the Alternative Energy Board.
By January 31st, we were supposed to transfer the name of the recipient on all shipments to Pacific Engineering, to clear up the customs issue.
Also the mounting equipment was lost completely at this time if I am not mistaken.
By this time I was also weary of Sohail’s contact in the Alternative Energy Board, Mr. Alaudin, who has critics claiming he is crooked. Also Sohail told me on multiple occasions that anything we bring into the country must go through Alaudin. This information turned out to not be correct according to people I eventually worked with in Pakistan.
Here is the email indicating I am to change recipient to Pacific Engineering:
***
Below is THE FIRST mention of components NOT made in China, and the email is in reference to the CELL PHONE TOWER systems, not the DEMO:
***
Then this cryptic email from Sohail asking that I set up ANOTHER company in Pakistan of which Saim and Waseem will be shareholders:
***
Needless to say the red flags were everywhere at this point.
Then things get more complex with this email:
***
The following email was from Sohail , dated January 31, 2012:
***
And another email from Sohail asking for more joint ventures in Pakistan…looked to me like Nasim and Waseem wanted a piece of the pie too:
***
Then more shipments went missing:
***
Kind emails were sent to Nasim and Waseem to accommodate my arrival:
***
Then I see this press release which was news to me, I had no idea another existing renewable energy company would be “working” with us:
SOLAR WIND PRIVATE LTD ANNOUNCES SCHEDULE FOR DEMONSTRATIONS IN PAKISTAN BEING DONE WITH BB SOLAR AND BERGAMO ACQUISITIONS
Karachi, Pakistan—March 15, 2012— Solar Wind Private LTD, with the support of BB Solar and Bergamo Acquisitions Corp. (OTC:BGMO), announced today the demonstrations of Solar Tube Pumping Systems and Solar Generators for home and cell phone towers on April 10, 2012 at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass Karachi and at their office 1 C Khaybane Shamsher Phase 5 D. H. A Karachi.
BB Solar can provide customized solutions and financing options to more customers than ever before, making the switch to Solar Energy easy and profitable. BB Solar, is a Canadian based Solar Energy Solutions Company. The company has strategically teamed up with The Big Leaf Inc. and Bergamo Acquisition Inc. to increase its ability to serve customers. Offering multiple types and technologies of solar systems, BB Solar plans to enter into various markets, and carve new niches.
BB Solar’s focus for Pakistan will include residential roof top and ground mounted solar, irrigation systems and water pumping, backup power and electricity, commercial and industrial electricity, government and military systems, and solar powered cellular phone towers.
Solar Power use saves the cost of diesel fuel or unreliable, unavailable grid power. The local population benefits from decreased pollution, local jobs created for installation and maintenance, and increased value in land. The Nation as a whole benefits as it can decrease the dependence on imported oil, as well as a decreased requirement to burn coal locally rather than sell it internationally.
For more information: www.bbsolar.ca
Contact: sales@bbsolar.ca
***
Another press release:
Karachi Pakistan March 15 2012, Mr. Waseem Ahmed C.E.O of Solar Wind pvt Ltd is glad to announce in collaboration with BB Solar Inc a Joint Venture Subsidiary Company of Bergamo Acquisition Corp ( OTC;BGMO ) a public limited company in U.S.A, will conduct demonstrations of solar tube well pumping systems, solar generators for domestic use, cell phone towers and various other energy required industries on April 10th 2012 onwards at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern By Pass Karachi.
There are currently 40 million tube well pumping systems in Pakistan that are being used at less than full capacity due to a power shortage of approximately 10,000 megawatts. Recognizing the benefits of solar powered energy generators the type developed by BB Solar Inc the country will meet its severely needed energy requirements by installing at least two to three million solar power generators engineered by BB Solar Inc.
The company's engineers have developed solar energy pumps in Canada, USA and China having capacities ranging from 6,000 liters per hour to 160,000 liters per hour and will significantly reduce the energy cost to the end user.It will not only meet the countries energy needs but will decrease pollution,dependence on imported oil,reduce the use of coal domestically rather than export to gain foreign exchange and finally create thousands of jobs for installation and maintenance of solar energy products, which is the basic mission of the current Government. To attend the demonstration a formal invitation will be extended to the heads of various concerned ministries and various important institutions.
***
By March 17th the equipment was at Mr. Waseem’s farmhouse, ready to be deployed and demonstrated.
I was sent pictures of the components in an email.
Here is an email from Sohail indicating that all seems well:
***
After I speak with Sohail, he wanted me to write for him a press release; because he stated that I write better than he does (I should have asked where his marketing team was). Then I get this email from Hillard, with the subject line: Use some words from here
***
Note that it refers to COMPANY ENGINEERS…which we did not have any at the time.
Then this release with more details:
BB Solar in conjunction with (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp and SolarWind Private Ltd are pleased to announce a demonstration of a customizable solar solution in a farm in Karachi, Pakistan.
The demo will include solar tube well pumping, and a solar generator (capable of powering homes, businesses or cellular phone towers). Thanks to the tireless efforts of our technical team, we are able to demonstrate all three solutions in early April.
BB Solar is sending its CEO Rahi Tajzadeh to Karachi on March 29th where he will work with the local team to arrange a full press conference at the demonstration site in early April. The site is located at 56 Jam Deh Chakro Farms Northern Bypass in Karachi. The Installation of our product that arrived at the farm, Installation will commence from monday.
Formal invitations will be extended to heads of various ministries, important institutions, and military bodies to attend the demonstration.
This demonstration will illustrate the versatility of BB Solar in system design and solution implementation in the solar industry. Given that there are Millions of tube wells in Pakistan, most of which are powered by diesel generators and unreliable AC power, the market for solar tube well pumping ranges from $10B USD - $200B USD over the next 5-10 years.
When looking at solar systems for electricity generation, the market is even larger: Since residential, commercial, industrial, government, and military bodies are all potential customers of solar electricity systems, the market ranges from $100B USD - $400B USD over the next 10 years.
There are over 40,000 cellular phone towers in Pakistan alone, each of which requires an average of 3kW of reliable power. Our solar generators, along with batteries, can provide uninterrupted power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We predict that the total value of this market ranges from $750M USD - $1.4B USD over the next 5 years.
BB Solar is working with SolarWind Private Ltd to capture a significant portion of these markets. We are aiming at acquiring 10%-20% of the solar tube well pumping market within 5 years, 10%-15% of solar energy generators within 5 years, and 25%-33% of the solar powered cellular phone towers within 5 years. We plan on achieving these goals via the following value added benefits that we provide our customers:
- Customized solutions instead of catalogue sales
- Free ABC and TLC analysis for each major customer
- We have multiple suppliers and technologies at the ready to better meet your needs
- Our solutions are either made in Canada, USA, or China to provide more flexibility in requirements or budget
- We provide solutions from $5,000USD - $100M+ and anything in between
- We use locally sourced sales, distribution, installation, and maintenance professionals, thereby increasing the total value to the local community
Our pumping systems can generate 6,000 litres – 160,000 litres per hour, and the flexibility of our system design allows the customer to dictate what they receive. Our solar generators come in multiple technologies and various configurations whether you are an individual home owner, farmer, or military commander, you can rely on our ability to meet your specific needs!
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
By March 20th I had my flight booked as the team in Pakistan told me all was set up and Nasim and Waseem knew of my arrival date and time.
I get this email a day later from Sohail:
***
More confirmation of things supposedly going well:
***
Up until the day before I left, everything with Nasim and Waseem seemed OK, here is an exchange indicating as such:
Gentlemen,
It is an absolute pleasure that our plans are finally complete and things are moving! I am thrilled to visit Karachi and meet each and every one of you. Before I get to my agenda I want to make our goals very clear:
BB Solar’s Goal in general, is to get as much sales as possible in solar energy and pumping systems, through the help of SolarWind Private LTD and AEDB. But if you want to know what our minimum requirements are, 360 complete systems / year is reasonable. I know that it may be very easy or very hard to reach 30 systems / month, but let’s aim for at least this volume!
My agenda is very simple:
1. Test the system in Karachi successfully and let it run for a few days.
2. Meet with as many important persons as we can to prepare them for the presentation.
3. Trial run – Perform the presentation and press conference once with no one there to ensure everything works.
4. Press Conference / Presentation takes place.
5. We get orders for BB Solar Inc. via SolarWind Private Ltd. and AEDB
My visit is scheduled for 7 – 10 days, or however long it is necessary to stay for the agenda to be complete.
As for the missing components, I believe you are referring to the mounting hardware: the rails and clamps that hold down the panels. I am trying to source them locally, but if we do not find it or are not able to mount the panels another way, I can have China ship another set to Pacific Engineering’s address or another address of your choice. This should not be absolutely necessary for the presentation but can help a lot.
I have sent you 2 pumps (1 is a backup in case the other one fails), and 3,000W of panels, and a 2,000 inverter. This is enough equipment to demo a Solar Generator, and a Solar Water Pumping System using the same components.
I am very happy to see the progress and am very thankful to Mr. Nasim and Mr. Waseem for their hospitality!
Once again I arrive at ~2:30 AM on March 29th in Karachi.
I look forward to a successful endeavour and thank you all for your time.
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
Subject: Re: Rahi Arriving 2.35 Pm Karachi FLT# 0221 Etihad Airlines
Rahi
Kindly send us your complete visit plan and duration of visit as well with agenda.
We understand that you will also need time to do the piping work for the pump and connection to solar panels.Kindly note that end connectors for solar panels are not available locally.We are trying to mechanically fix the solar panels at a suitable location to save time.
The necessary cabling,piping to s-pump will be done when you are here.
We only have some solar cells,two pump and a 2kw invertor.
Nasim / Waseem
When I arrived in Pakistan, Mr Waseem was supposed to have a driver pick me up, take me to a guest house, set me up with an office, phone and internet, and take me to the demo site at the very least.
No one showed up at the airport at 3 am…or 4 am…I was stranded. I went to Marriott hotel on my own funds (the LOI was clear that Bergamo was to make ALL NECESSARY ACCOMMODATIONS for SALES TO TAKE PLACE).
The entire trip consisted of me running around trying desperately to salvage the trip. I set up a relationship between The Big Leaf and a local company (The REFUSED TO WORK WITH BERGAMO after they were told by Sohail that Bergamo needs to buy a Pakistani bank before they can do anything with Solar…which was news to me). That company and I set up importing and delivery and installation infrastructure, as well as sales and marketing infrastructure…none of which could be useful if not funded! Which bergamo promised to do… … they did not.
I met the Minister of the province and his brother…both were wonderful people and VERY friendly! They took me out to dinner and I visited their estate in a village outside Sukur. The minister made it clear to me that ANY solar generator is too expensive when compared to diesel generators, REGARDLESS of the lower operating / maintenance costs, and that Sohail made a mistake in thinking that the minister would or could buy the systems. (more on this later).
I get this email from Sohail:
***
From this point on Nasim and Waseem do not talk to me, other than 1 email from Nasim saying that he did NOT invite me and is NOT interested in talking to me at all.
Sohail was fuming and called him *&%^&*% even in an email to Waseem, who is friends with Nasim!
I was stuck with no demo, no guest house, no office, and only a few thousand I brought in case of emergency.
This email was sent to Waseem:
***
Note that I personally did not offer the demo as a gift to Waseem UNLESS he let me use his guest house, the demo site for a press conference, etc.
The following press release was issued sometime in April, I was asked to write it for Bergamo and I was stuck in a hotel room in Pakistan with a return ticket one month away and not enough money to stay that long.
Sohail made it clear to me that I HAVE to indicate a successful demo, and that he will pay me my losses.
BB Solar Inc. progress update in Pakistan
Marriott Hotel, Karachi Pakistan, April 2nd, 2012. (OTC:BGMO) Bergamo Acquisition Corp is pleased to update its shareholder CEO of BB Solar Inc Mr. Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with warm and enthusiastic support. We have already found a local marketing and distribution company to work with which will make our sales, import, support, installation, distribution, and maintenance programs less costly and less complicated. Our demo has been installed in a local farm and we are on our way to take photographs and video of it in action. Our demo was an example of our economy line of solar water pumping systems, and we have already sold it within the first week. We spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and have come to the conclusion that high quality 5kW – 25kW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell in this burgeoning country. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German components. The potential market size here for 5kW – 25kW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. The people here are used to getting less than they paid for in terms of service and quality, and almost no post-purchase support. This is an opportunity for BB Solar to take the market by storm as we focus on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program. Our partner companies The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp are excited at our move to enter the Pakistani market and eVP Sohail Parekh is very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. As we sold our first demo in less than four days we decided not to hold a press conference until our CEO Rahi Tajzadeh returns with an American or German made 20kW system which is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan we are arranging a large press conference for this 20kW system which will take place by the end of the season, or early summer.
Looking forward to growing our company and working with you: BB Solar Inc.
BB Solar Inc.
Sales@BBSolar.ca
Rahi@BBSolar.ca
1-416-884-8033
Marriott Hotel 3 5680111 Room 705.
***
Another press release they sent out…with my name misspelled AGAIN.
Bergamo Acquisition Corp Provides Update on BB Solar, Inc. Project in Pakistan
Karachi Pakistan -April 2, 2012- Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC: BGMO) announced today that BB Solar, Inc., joint venture subsidiary company’s CEO, Rahi Tajzeda has been welcomed into Karachi Pakistan with enthusiastic support. The company is establishing local marketing and distribution centers to assist in its sales, import, support, installation, distribution , and maintenance which will enable a much economical and less complicated program.
BB Solar CEO Mr. Rahi Tajzada has spent considerable time and effort researching the market potential in Pakistan and has come to the conclusion that high quality 5KW to 25KW systems (with and without water pumping ability) are the ideal size to sell. Most residents, farmers, commercial, and industrial markets here are looking for higher quality Canadian, American, and German products. The potential market size here for 5KW to 25KW systems ranges from 300 systems to 3,000 systems annually, depending on price, distribution, and support channels. BB Solar has an opportunity to become the dominant player in the market as it focuses on delivering more value, better post-purchase service, and a better than industry warranty program which is important to the people of Pakistan. BB Solar’s partner companies, The Big Leaf and Bergamo Acquisition Corp, are enthused and fully supportive at entering the Pakistani market.
Sohail Parekh, Sr. Executive Vice President of Bergamo, stated, “We are very pleased with our progress in such a short period of time. Since we have decided to offer higher quality Canadian, US and German product instead of Chinese products which are flooded in the market due to which BB Solar’s CEO, Rahi Tajzadeh will return with an American or German made 20KW system in the next few weeks.The 20KW system is six times larger than the current demo, and a better marketing prospect as it will demonstrate the ideal system size for this market. Thanks to our new team in Pakistan, we will be arranging a press conference for this 20KW system to take place by the end of the season or early summer. Currently Mr. Rahie Tajzada is conducting meetings with various Governmental and private authorities while researching proper energy requirement for the country, specially punjab Government is offering subsidies for energy projects.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For further information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
***
Sohail send me an email with the subject line “Useful points for Rahi” which he wrote, and CLEARLY INDICATES CHINESE COMPONENTS as well as Canada / USA.
***
More press releases with known lies in them, which I made clear to them are not true in telephone conversations:
BERGAMO ACQUISITION’S BB SOLAR CEO COMPLETES SUCCESSFUL TRIP
TO PAKISTAN
Henderson, NV-April 17, 2012-Bergamo Acquisition Corp. (OTC:BGMO) announced today that BB Solar CEO Rahi Tajzadeh has returned from a successful trip to Karachi Pakistan. A Marketing, Importing, Distribution, and Sales partner in Karachi with the ability to reach all of Pakistan was established. Having spent two weeks engaging in discussions with local leaders and provincial ministers, as well as local business owners, farmers, irrigation designers and managers, Rahi has spotted a market opportunity ready to grow in a region with plenty of sunshine and heavy substitute costs.
The bread and butter of this market is the 5KW-25KW systems, although special projects like DHA City present a wonderful prospect for large market gains. Currently customers are used to, but tired of lackluster post purchase support, catalogue sales techniques, limited sources of products, and difficult warranty processes, all of which BB Solar can alleviate. With subsidies from the local government and other NGO’s, the support of the local community, and a value added approach to business practices, BB Solar is poised to achieve a significant market share within a few years. 300 – 3000 systems annually, ranging from 5KW–25KW are estimated once Marketing is established, and the supply chain is running smoothly inside Pakistan.
Various entities in and around Karachi and in the Punjab Province have requested a larger 20KW demonstration for irrigation and off grid home use. There is also a demand for hybrid solar and wind energy systems which BB Solar’s parent, R&D company, The Big Leaf is working on. These systems can increase the total efficiency of the usable land for energy generation with no carbon emissions. BB Solar is also working on a tender for DHA City in at least one of their solar energy projects, which range from 1-10MW. BB Solar is in talks with a very special, specialized, value added supplier for proprietary technology in the tender and if the supplier can agree to terms, a competitive advantage can be achieved.
BB Solar is sending quotes to interested parties and is aiming at 3 – 30 systems by quarter end.
Updates on the next visit to Pakistan will be made available on the websites as they develop.
For more information on BB Solar, please visit: www.bbsolar.ca
For more information on Bergamo, please visit: www.bergamoenergy.com http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy.
Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events and performances could vary materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the company's actual results, expressed or implied, to differ materially from expected results. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, product demand and market competition. You should independently investigate and fully understand all risks before making an investment decision.
Contact:
For Sales and General Inquiries Contact Us
Email: SALES@BBSOLAR.CA
Purchasing: RAHI@BBSOLAR.CA
Business Development: DIMITRY@BBSOLAR.CA
Special Rate Inquiries: TERESSA@BBSOLAR.CA
Financing Options: WWW.BERGAMOENERGY.COM
Fax: 1-905-763-1213 (please email us before you fax)
Bergamo Acquisition Corp.
President & Director
hillardherzog@bergamocorp.com
www.bergamocorp.com
www.bergamoenergy.com
http://www.facebook.com/bergamoenergy
or
Investor Relations:
The Eversull Group, Inc.
Jack Eversull, President, 972-571-1624
Fax: 214-469-2361
jack@theeversullgroup.com
***
By May 11 I am back in Toronto, out of money, a job, and my mother’s retirement savings…all of which Sohail PERSONALLY stated he will reimburse me on MULTIPLE telephone conversations with WITNESSES who I will be getting affidavits from.
Then I get this email with more cryptic references to potential contracts:
***
Then I get this email from Sohail, indicating that the same minister who told me the systems are too expensive (regardless of the supplier or country of origin) wants to purchase systems again…:
***
By July 17th, I was aware that Bergamo could not meet the requirements of the LOI in any form or any of the claims they made about their business. It was evident to me that they did not care too much about my success because in hindsight, to enter into the Pakistani solar market as an external entity it would take far more money and time than they thought possible, as well as complete business infrastructure which they did not seem to be interested in at all. They never asked about things like “where do you store systems” “Do you use JIT?” “how will you market and to whom?” “who will provide the post purchase service and maintenance and how?” “how will warranty and RMA requests be handled?” “what software / package will you use for monitoring?”
These questions were to be figured out AFTER a QUICK sale was made to “Sohail’s People”. This way we could get funding to figure out all these questions and more (after all the business plan I wrote was not an OPERATIONAL business plan, which would be hundreds of pages long, I wrote a summary business plan which is reasonable for a quick sale).
As the days went on, Sohail made it CLEAR to me, to our mutual contacts, and to my mother (through me) that ALL LOSSES will be REIMBURSED by Bergamo and that they STILL want to do business with me.
I asked to be paid in certified cheque or stock, and they claimed that they would send me and out mutual contact to Las Vegas, first class, to arrange the payment.
Nothing happened for “TWO WEEKS”…this went on for MONTHS.
Finally by August Sohail claimed that end of August is fine for a visit.
By the End of August, nothing happened.
In telephone conversations with our mutual contacts on the line, Sohail claimed that BERGAMO and HE do NOT HAVE MONEY to pay me and that Sohail even owes his lawyers $50,000.
I made it clear that they, as a PUBLIC company are claiming MILLIONS in profits / earnings, and that either he is lying to us or to shareholders, and either way he and Hillard are paying their bills somehow.
They constantly say they are travelling to England, Singapore, New York, LA, etc. but claim that they have NO MONEY to pay me.
Sohail said on the phone with witnesses that “Rahi, as god as my witness, I am a god fearing man, and as soon as I have the money to pay you your losses I will. What kind of a RUTHLESS man do you think I am that I would be okay with your mother losing her retirement savings? And I will pay you PERSONALLY, because my partner Hillard would object to Bergamo paying you for MY (Sohail’s) MISTAKES in Pakistan”.
I Promptly replied “If an IBM Vice President makes a mistake and IBM loses $1M, does the Vice President pay from his own pocket for the loss? Does that even make any sense?”
I asked that Bergamo pay me and Sohail pay me, but that the total is the amount I was asking for.
Sohail agreed many times to me and our mutual contact and both of us at once that I will be reimbursed for losses as a result of Bergamo’s inability to meet the requirements of the LOI.
Soon thereafter he stopped talking to me (by now its late August) , telling out mutual contact that he has nothing to say to me, and that he is working on getting the money and that it will be any day now.
Since then I waited patiently, then when the time came that I had given them to respond to my pleas for humanity and good business practice.
Here is just a sample from as early as May!
Sohail,
I will address your concerns in order:
1. What are these tGOP interests and what size of systems and how many do they want and when? My prices are as low as they come.
2. BGMO and BB Solar have not signed a shareholder agreement, thus BGMO cannot demand that we stop spending money or do anything until that is signed…but let me assure you that we are NOT spending any money because I am bankrupt as it is.
3. Terms of delivery and service of any sales are the property of BB Solar until a shareholder agreement is signed.
4. USAID is expired as far as we know and even if it was not, the increase in cost for US components is almost as much as the savings to the customers.
5. The MOU we signed was actually an LOI and not a contract, and BGMO has not met the requirements we laid out for you in that LOI. Therefore a new agreement must be made, because the existing LOI’s terms were not met and it is voided.
6. We are happy to come and visit you and Hillard in Vegas to discuss our next step, at your cost (again I am bankrupt), but before that happens we need to be paid for the expenses incurred to date and that Sohail has promised over the phone to me and both *** brothers (to date it is $58,000 CDN). Once my costs are covered and my parents’ money is returned, then we will visit Vegas to discuss our mutually successful future.
7. Please let me know who your auditors and accountants / experts are who will evaluate our proposals, as we need to make sure they meet our requirements.
We are getting lots of response from Pakistan and Babar is doing a great job getting our name out there. We are already competing for more than one 20kW system and sales are inevitable. What needs to happen next is that Bergamo reimburses me the costs that I have incurred, or at least the costs over and above the cost of the demo ($52,300).
Furthermore, I want to remind you that on more than one occasion we were promised reimbursement of our expenses, and full financing for operations, over the phone by Sohail and have no doubt that he will deliver on his welcoming promise.
Once my parents are reimbursed, we can move forward and come to Vegas, share sales information, sign a new agreement / LOI / MOU, and a shareholder agreement.
Thank you,
Rahi Tajzadeh
BB Solar Inc.
The Big Leaf Inc.
****
Here is another email from me to them:
Sohail,
I am doing my best to defend Bergamo but your investors are bombarding my email and message boards. This is going to hurt The Big Leaf as well if we do not say something to them about our meeting or the funding.
I will continue to defend BGMO and tell people that I am patient.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Do we not have any updates at all?
You (Sohail) are treating me like a dog or a peasant that is only good for free work.
What did I do to you to deserve this treatment?
Remember each time you asked me to come up with a quote or an analysis or a letter or a website change? I did all those things. Remember when I asked that you repay me the amount you said you would? Nothing happened. You stopped talking to me.
Why are you doing this?
I know you and Hillard have money. I am not stupid Sohail. You cannot live in Las Vegas and pay for accountants and airplane trips around the world without having money.
I am not asking for $1,000,000 or some outrageous amount. I am asking you to put me back to where I was before you and Bergamo made me lose it all out of the inability to meet some simple requirements in our LOI.
What more do you want from me, the world, the **** brothers?
What are you waiting for? I don’t want $1B, I want my losses covered.
Time to be a man.
RSVP
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 5:15 PM
To: 'Rahi Tajzadeh'
Cc: sohailbergamo@aol.com
Subject: your compensation
Hi Rahi
Just finished a detailed conversation with Sohail who himself is earnest to get this resolved, and make sure you get paid.
According to Sohail they are in the last lap of their efforts to get the funding in place and every body would know because they will have a press release for public knowledge.
He has not blocked your email s but does not want to respond as he has nothing more to say
Sohail assured me that it is a matter of time and would appreciate if you could exercise patience as this will help him a lot to focus on the issue. My younger brother is on the same page as myself
Appreciate your cooperation and I also need a break for a couple of days as this is getting stressful for myself also.
Let us have a positive outlook and sincerely hope Sohail will do the needful to fulfill his obligations
Bye for now
***
And another from me:
Sohail and Hillard.
My next step is to issue an official invoice for my work and losses due to the inability of Bergamo to meet the requirements of the LOI.
This is because you are NOT answering my emails, or text messages, and feel that ignoring me will make me go away.
I give you 1 day to reply and arrange payment of my fees and losses as you agreed over the phone.
I know you both have millions of shares, and money, and invoicing is my next step.
I truly wish it would not come to this but you seem to feel that I am stupid or naïve.
The invoice is below and I will officially issue it to you tomorrow if you do not reply TODAY.
Rahi
Here is where I drew a line in the sand:
Sohail, Hillard,
I asked you yesterday in an email which was delivered to each of your email addresses to please reply and confirm you received the email and to respond to continuing requests to reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you will do.
I asked that you reply before today otherwise I would officially issue the invoice.
You did not reply and I am forced to issue the invoice and take this to the next level.
Let me remind you that you brought me to this point by:
- Lying about owning Greensafe and other companies when I met you in November 2011.
- Knowingly lying in press releases and BigBiz radio show about BB Solar’s progress in Pakistan (i.e. “we had a successful demo and it is already up and running”).
- Not meeting the requirements of the LOI and leaving me stranded in Pakistan.
- Not being able to set up the demo and having it STOLEN by “your people”.
- Lying to me about saving me money on hotel and airfare costs.
- Lying to me about quotes and system designs that you didn’t ever follow up on (at least 6 times): why would you ask me to make you various system quotes without an RFP or any EVIDENCE that there are customers.
- Lying to me about having an office.
- Lying to me about your financial situation “we do not have money” and at the same time telling shareholders that you do have money.
- Lying on your financial statements about earning $80 Million, but not having enough to reimburse me $60,000+.
- Lying about knowing government officials, and other “guaranteed sales” like hospital owners, business owners, etc.
- Lying about ***** paying for my hotel.
- Lying about your (Sohail) sister saving me money on my hotel.
- Lying about Babar Mirza and his father about saving me money on my hotel.
- Losing the trust of Babar and his Father (they do not want to do any business with you as they do not trust you at all).
- Lying about bribing government officials to “get us easy sales” which is illegal.
The invoice is below as a picture, and attached as a separate file.
My next step, if you ignore me, is to go to a collections agency and take legal action.
I will also make sure that ALL OF YOUR SHAREHOLDERS know about the ENTIRE story of BB Solar and Bergamo INCLUDING Hillard KNOWINGLY lying about BB Solar, The Big Leaf, Bergamo, and our mutual progress, which is VERY ILLEGAL.
I have no problems with letting the WHOLE WORLD know what is happening from an objective point of view, telling my story of losing my savings, my job, my mother’s retirement money, and my girlfriend.
Obviously you have money and stock which you could have paid me with, but now I will ONLY accept a certified cheque or wire transfer.
All you had to do, was set up a simple press conference, and ensure that Nassim and Wassim would not STEAL my equipment, and make sure I had the accommodations that you claimed I would have in Pakistan…but you failed to meet ALL of the requirements of the LOI.
You made another mistake by saying on the phone three times, with Malik and Shakir Malik as witnesses (which I will get an affidavit from them) about you, Sohail, personally paying me back all of my losses…which means that if Bergamo ignores this email and invoice as well, I will legally go after you Sohail personally.
What you do in the next 24 hours will determine what kind of men you are, Hillard and Sohail.
The mistake of thinking that I am an idiot or so naïve is very wrong.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
After this Sohail called me and told me to go F*&K myself, while telling our mutual contact that he STILL wants to pay me.
Here is another email from me:
Sohail, Hillard,
It has not been a week since I sent you an invoice and was yelled at by Sohail and told to “go f $k myself”.
I am giving you another chance to redeem yourselves as honest, good businessmen.
You have an opportunity to save your stock price and your respect in the investment community, and all you have to do is reimburse me my losses as you already claimed you would.
Once again please understand that you brought me to this point by continually making statements about meeting me in June, July, August, September, etc.
Furthermore I am not comfortable with the stress and anxiety both **** brothers have to go through just for me, it is not fair to them, and they would be perfectly happy if YOU MET THE REQURIEMTENTS OF THE LOI.
The time is now to send me a certified cheque via mail.
What’s your next move, I look forward to hearing from you.
Rahi Tajzadeh
***
And another:
You now have an opportunity to increase your stock price dramatically.
It sits at $0.0184, which is a 75%+ loss since I met you both in November.
None of your business dealings are increasing your stock price, and each time my name comes up the price drops again.
Do you want to keep losing money by not fulfilling your obligations?
Is it worth not paying me a measly $68,000 that you will risk losing millions in stock value?
Do you realize you are ruining real people’s lives who invested in your company by letting the stock price fall like this?
Those people will be your enemies for life, and unlike a mild mannered Rahi, they may take legal action against you both very soon.
So again, I ask,
Is it worth losing your corporation, years of work, millions in stock value, and the opportunity to dump more shares in the future just to save a paltry $60-$70 thousand?
If that is the case, then you are not good businessmen. Simple.
When a restaurant owes money to waiters or suppliers, they pay up BEFORE customers walk in the door, now it’s your turn.
Rahi
***
Then Hillard finally replies with a THREAT, including a junk reference to incorrect country of origin for the components, and my response to it as well:
Hi Hillard Nice to hear from you finally.
I have one simple thing to say about your email.
BB Solar’s comment, my comment was made AFTER I made an assessment in Pakistan on my OWN money and OWN work with Babar, NOT BEFORE my trip.
The quote you refer to is below:
“The BB Solar chief said that most residents, farmers, commercial and industrial markets are looking for higher quality Canadian, American and German products while more economical and Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious.”
The comment was made AFTER MY PRODUCTS WERE STOLEN BY YOUR PEOPLE and AFTER I met with officials in Pakistan that I set up the interview with Babar’s help, NOT YOURS. So you should really do your homework.
Note that it also says that Chinese alternatives will be made available to those who are more budget conscious. Note that your email below does NOT refer to this part of the interview, and you are again distorting facts. Nothing I have said has been inflammatory and I am insulted that you would attack me after my patience with you and Sohail.
I have already invoiced you for losses, and will not communicate with you further unless you have my payment ready.
Please make payments payable to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc. or BB Solar Inc. as you see fit.
Rahi.
***
Another email from me:
Please remove all references to BB Solar from your website and iHUB page immediately.
Yesterday was the due date on the invoice I sent you.
Rahi.
***
And the last email indicating a late fee and collections charges:
Sohail, Hillard, Bergamo,
The deadline for paying the invoice I sent has come and gone, and as a result I have added a suitable late fee, and a collections charge to the original invoice.
The new invoice is attached, and below for your reference.
If you do not contact me to indicate how you will be paying me, I will take this to a high powered, reputable, experienced collections agency.
Please note that I know the radio interview was PAID FOR, indicating that you HAVE money.
Thank you and make all payments in the form of wire transfer or certified cheque to Rahi Tajzadeh or 1173236 Ontario Inc., payments are to be made in Canadian Dollars.
Rahi
So in conclusion, does anyone here believe that Bergamo is the perfect organization they make themselves out to be? Perhaps the fact that ALL THE COMPANIES in their portfolio are either non existent, or belong to someone else. Or maybe it’s the Haanz Group that claims they own many companies that have never heard of the Haanz Group.
My next step is collections, then a law suit. Can I count on you (honest shareholders’) support?
BB Solar would have raised capital if Bergamo me the requirements of our agreement.
And we DID have a product to sell but Bergamo's people stole it.
And we DID have a legitimate business plan but Bergamo couldn't fund us for even $1.
Bergamo can say anything they want, because I have the emails and witnesses to prove they "wanted" to fund us 100% and then remunerate me for my losses.
BB Solar did EVERYTHING WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO. BERGAMO DID NOTHING.
NEW SHAREHOLDERS, POTENTIAL SHAREHOLDERS: RUN AWAY!!! THIS IS A FRAUDULENT COMPANY>
That is exactly what happened with BB Solar. Hillard didn't even care about a contract, NDA, getting a press conference set up, getting accommodations set up, making sure the people I was supposed to meet actually were available to meet / wanted to meet me, and of course lying about owning Greensafe and Suntrough etc.
I wonder how Bergamo can defend against LYING flat out in their "business plan" about owning those companies.
BERGAMO: Put out a public business plan for all to read. After all you are a public company and most public companies release a form of their business plan as a part of their annual report.
WHERE'S YOURS?
When they show a happy Camofi, Suntrough, Greensafe etc. with Checques in hand and an apology from HH and SP, then I will believe a COMPILATION by LL Bradford.
COMPILATION IS NO AUDIT.
GET AN AUDIT BERGAMO, all the shareholders are WAITING FOR IT
What are you afraid of Bergamo?
An AUDIT IS NOT A COMPILATION...It DOESN'T MATTER WHAT WAS VERIFIED BECAUSE HH SUPPLIED ALL THE MISLEADING INFORMATION.
That is what he did to me!!!!
HE TOLD ME THEY OWN GREENSAFE on NOVEMBER 21 and 22.
HE TOLD ME THEY OWN SUNTROUGH!
WHY CANT BERGAMO DEFEND AGAINST THOSE LIES?
What is important to shareholders is to demand PROOF from BERGAMO FOR ANYTHING THEY SAY.
COMPILED REPORTS ARE NOT PROOF OF ANYTHING.
SAYING YOU WILL INVEST IN SOMETHING WHILE NOT INDICATING WHERE THE MONEY CAME FROM IS INSUFFICIENT.
Coming up with grand plans to make wise investments in BLAH BLAH BLAH...WHERE"S THE MONEY?
Why did Sohail tell me on the phone MULTIPLE TIMES that he doesn't even have enough to pay his lawyer the $50,000 he owes him???????
Was he lying to me or is he lying to shareholders?
Is this how Sohail and HH treat all their creditors?
Did they pay Camofi?
Did they reimburse Greensafe?
Did they reimburse Suntrough?
Did they reimburse BB Solar?
All of these are creditors.
Potential future shareholders BEWARE. BERGAMO HAS MILLIONS THEY OWE TO CREDITORS>
OOPS no. Not the hotel and car.
Sohail already arranged that before I left.
I have emails for that too.
And I DID PAY FOR MY HOTEL AND CAR!!!! Because SOhail's lies proved themselves when I was stranded at the airport at 3 am!!!!!!!!!!
BERGAMO DID NOTHING THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO. Where are all the ministers? The politicians? All the powerful people SOhail said I would meet?
WHAT CAN BERGAMO SAY NOW?
I DID EVERYTHING YOU WANTED AND BERGAMO ATTACKS ME, ATTACKING THE VICTIM?
Note that Hillard had NOT TALKED TO ANY SUPPLIERS because I had not arranged any at this time!!!!
Also note that they could not get ANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THE EMAIL to see our demo or even on the phone.
Also note that I did bear the expense of the demo and flight.
THE EMAILS ARE HERE. What can BERGAMO SAY ABOUT THEM NOW?
I HAVE ALL ORIGINALS.
Court will be coming soon.
Potential future investors, be warned. Bergamo will go to court.
Emails from September 7th, 2011: as Requested: (note the misspelling of my name)
Rahie,
This was submitted to Mr. Herzog please provide comparision for your product. There are 40 Million Tube Wells in Pakistan. We will make presentation with Mr.Saifullah, Shahbaz Shareef, Mr. Naveed Qamar Fedral Minister for water and power.
Your product and the attached product will be demonstrated in front of Pakistan Goverment. Also like to clarify the supplier for the attached presentation will finance Demo Model and travel expense, As Mr. Herzog made it very clear with the supplier, Once the demo is approved and Po is in place then Bergamo will finance the entire order receivd from the Goverment. The Minister is ready to meet us once we have demo in place.
Thanks
Sohail Parekh.
_____________
Rahi,
I would appriciate if end of this week we can discuss all of what you have mentioned here. I have been very sick since last sunday.I have spoken to Mr. Jam Saifullah Minister for Irrigation for DEMO, Once the demo is approved by the Goverment they will proceed with the order of the equipment.
Thanks
Sohail Parekh
-----Original Message-----
From: Rahi Tajzadeh <rahi@thebigleaf.com>
To: sohailbergamo <sohailbergamo@aol.com>;
Sent: Tue, Sep 6, 2011 4:40 pm
Subject: The Big Leaf in Pakistan
Gentlemen,
Can we schedule a conference call? I think we are at an important crossroads and need to make the best decisions together. We are ready to order a system to test here in Toronto first before we demo it in Pakistan. But we need to have all our ducks lined up, contracts, purchase orders, mutual website additions / changes, plans for the trip with an ETA on installation of the demo, etc.
I am available all day Thursday.
Yours,
Rahi Tajzadeh
I did bear the expense of the demo. Thank you for pointing that out.
Personal attacks on me are allowed.
Also I did not delete any emails, I have all the copies.
Also I sent Chinese components AFTER Sohail was made aware of it.
Also I offered Canadian and American and German components while in Pakistan.
The email states that I am to bear the expense, I am the supplier. If Hillard and Sohail do not understand their own email to me that is their problem.
I did bear the expense. I have the receipts.
What BERGAMO FAILED TO DO WAS ACCOMMODATE SALES. GET ME A HOTEL. GET ME A DRIVER. GET ME A PRESS CONFERENCE.
What they did do is NONE OF THE ABOVE. They lied over and over and I have the proof and that makes them very scared.
Do not worry, in court all will be revealed.
Do you know how many times Sohail told me that ALL OF MY OPERATIONS at BB SOLAR would be COMPLETELY FUNDED.
I quoted him up to 10 employees and up to $1M / year in overhead to have a meaningful sales company for Pakistan alone.
This was all based on the sales figures BERGAMO PROVIDED.
Not to mention the MULTITUDE of FAKE quotes they had me meticulously produce that went nowhere:
-5MW power plant (CSP)
-3kW cell phone towers
-1MW power plant (PV)
-A $1B bridge (that's right, I have the proof, they wanted ME TO PUT IN A BID TO BUILD A BRIDGE!!!!)
-20kW systems for the military and others...
there are more...
Why would Sohail ask me to give all these quotes without telling me WHO THEY ARE GOING TO, WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM, WHY THERE IS NO RFP AVAILABLE, etc.
They all disappeared which is what will happen to ANY MONEY INVESTED IN BGMO...
NEW or POTENTIAL investors BEWARE
First of all thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention.
Bergamo knew of the Chinese origin of our equipment and even touted it.
Bergamo had NO experience or expertise in alternative energy or solar as per Sohail and Hillard, when they told me in person.
If the quality was sub-par, then why was it stolen? Why would someone steal something of no value?
You SHOULD blame bergamo for not checking LOTS OF THINGS like the press conference they were supposed to set up, the accommodations they were supposed to provide, the "guaranteed sales" that they promised, and the REMUNERATION of MY LOSSES that SOHAIL PROMISED.
The Big Leaf Inc. is NOT LIABLE for any losses because I bore all the risk...and Bergamo is responsible for MY FUTURE PROFIT LOSSES which they promised would be in the millions a year EVEN AFTER THEY KNEW I HAD CHINESE COMPONENTS.
Also note that we were working with German, Canadian, and American suppliers as well. I only sent Chinese components because that is what the people could afford (rich farmers can order German and American from us).
My work life is not for discussion on this board, I only mentioned it because BERGAMO's INCOMPETENCE forced my employer to cut ties with me.
BERGAMO KNEW that I could not keep changing my vacation days but they KEPT DELAYING THE TRIP for NO GOOD REASON other than INCOMPETENCE.
PLEASE STOP MAKING PERSONAL ATTACKS.
Excellent post, excellent quote:
The bottom line, whenever BGMO was involved with bona fide companies, it managed to ruin, soil, taint and destroy everything it touched. What a brilliant business man.
Bergamo needs to demonstrate where their money is today, how it got there (in all details), why they only COMPILED financial statements and not AUDITED / VERIFIED, where is the office, who is on their payroll, etc.
My BB SOLAR Report post was sticky, hopefully it will be again. it is a detailed description and an OBJECTIVE report.
I am sorry to say but LL Bradford ONLY made a compilation.
That means they did NOT AUDIT the company.
Any accountant can do the same and they ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACCURACY IN THE INFORMATION PROVIDED TO THEM BY BERGAMO. They are ONLY responsible for the proper compilation according to GAAP.
IF IT WAS AN AUDIT then it WOULD SAY SO!
BERGAMO: GET AN AUDIT, Prove every nay sayer wrong!
Prove your revenues, earnings, and where all that money went to that you claimed to have over the last years.
$BGMO INVESTORS AND TO EVERY NEW INVESTOR WELCOME!
REAL FACTS REAL STORY IOHO YOU WILL FIND ALL YOUR ANSWERS HERE, PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.
BERGAMO ACQUISITION CORP & SUBSIDIARIES
(hereinafter called $BGMO”)
Stock Ticker Symbol: BGMO
THIS COMPANY IS A FRAUDULENT ORGANIZATION.
NO REVENUE STREAMS.
NO OFFICE.
NO BANK STATEMENTS.
NO SALES RECEIPTS.
Don't Say WHO they supposedly acquired and WITH WHAT MONEY?
The SAME FINANCIALS state that they had NO MONEY in early 2012, but then they managed to ACQUIRE enough to buy a company?
and that same company then made BERGAMO $88M? Yeah right.
Bergamo's financial statements are not worth the paper they are printed on.
Because it was a COMPILATION which they stated in the SAME document that is referred to.
COMPILATION does NOT MEAN AUDITED. That means the company can give any numbers they choose, and LL Bradford is NOT on the hook for verifying accuracy.
Bergamo is not following the law. I have personal proof of it. If there are POTENTIAL investors reading this, BEWARE.
If a PUBLIC company on an AMERICAN stock exchange cannot:
- prove they have an office.
- prove their revenues / sales / profits with RECEIPTS and BANK STATEMENTS.
- prove they have adequate staff.
- prove that their previous PUBLIC statements were TRUE!
- prove that their stock price is an accurate reflection of the net present value of all future cash flows.
- prove that they actually have a product or service they offer.
- prove that their "acquired" subsidiaries actually made money.
- prove that they can run a business...
then you should RUN AWAY and SAVE YOUR MONEY!
So I am to to be blamed for my equipment being stolen.
Then is Bergamo to be blamed for their $1Billion that went missing?
What about the $400M that is not accounted for?
What about the lack of any revenue streams?
What about the lack of an OFFICE!?
What about the lack of any EMPLOYEES?
What about the lack of marketing?
What about the lack of sales receipts?
What about the lack of customer lists?
What about the lies they told me about Pakistan?
What about the lies they told me about Greensafe and Suntrough?
What about the lies they told shareholders about BB Solar?
What about the lies they told shareholders about our demo?
What about Hillard lying on BigBiz regarding my demo?
Can Bergamo answer these questions?
Even a sandwich shop can answer simple basic business questions.
Yeah they signed the same thing with me for BB Solar, and it was just as vague as what was written in the last one.
No details, just that they are sharing profits. Big Deal.
the letter states that LL Bradford met investor group...
well if Bergamo is investing in this subsidiary, then THEY ARE THE INVESTOR GROUP, and the statement is as meaningless as everything else bergamo states
if Bergamo reported an income, why didn't they report WHERE the income came from?
where is the $1Billion from the brazilian bank?
If the "audit" (which was a compilation of unverified hearsay) was all inclusive and an accurate representation of all financial transactions and changes throughout the year, then where is that $500M?
Where is the NOTE to shareholders telling them WHERE the $500M is or WHY it was not acquired by Bergamo's staff?
Where is the entry for the $1B in "Irrevocable Undeniable blah blah" from the Brazilian bank?
Where is the NOTE to shareholders indicating WHAT happened to the $1B and WHY Bergamo was unable to keep it (or WHERE it is today)?
Where is the NOTE to Shareholders about BB SOLAR?
Why do they keep spending money on fake PR (radio interview) and trips around the world when THEY OWE MONEY to me and other creditors?
The fact that there is STILL NO REVENUE STREAMS of ANY KIND cannot be answered by you.
You keep saying they made money...ok on WHAT? Buying a firm? That COSTS MONEY! Did the firm they bought make $88M more than what BGMO bought them for? Yeah right...then why would they sell?