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-135-<br />

such payments out of profit,", worked against the interest of the<br />

Liberian Treasury, whereas the RCM-Amsterdam and NRC-Hamburg were<br />

as collateral security for the repayment of these loans granted<br />

"a continuing general lien to the extent of their interests upon<br />

all fixed assets, including plantations, and upon all accounts<br />

receivable and other assets of Sal'atii'' (33), Thus, their<br />

participation in and the financing of Salala had become hardly<br />

distinguishable from equity participation, apart from the<br />

consequences for the payment of income taxes, and the general<br />

financial responsibility.<br />

ALAN L. GRANT (LIBERIA) INC.<br />

Alan L. Grant (Liberia) Inc. ("the Alan Grant Company") is a<br />

company which is not involved in the production of rubber on its<br />

own plantation(s), but which buys rubber (specification coagulum,<br />

non-specification coagulum, cup lumb, tree lace, and bark scrap)<br />

from mainly Liberian farmers and processes it for export. As its<br />

final product does not differ essentially from the produce of the<br />

factories of the Firestone Plantations Company or of one of the<br />

other rubber plantations, its main characteristic being that it<br />

still falls within the category of primary products, it seems<br />

correct to discuss this company together with the other rubber<br />

companies operating in Liberia under concession agreements with<br />

the Liberian Government.<br />

<strong>The</strong> company's activities are governed by (a) a Statement of<br />

Understanding of October 22, 1962, and (b) an Agreement for the<br />

establishment of a Rubber Remilling Plant, dated December 31,<br />

1962. It was incorporated under Liberian laws on November 29,<br />

1962, and is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Dutch N.V. Deli<br />

Maatschappij Amsterdam (DMA).<br />

Under a 50-year concession agreement the Alan Grant Company was<br />

granted the rights to create a rubber remilling plant .in the<br />

Central Province of the Liberian Hinterland, to purchase all<br />

kinds of rubber from independent Liberian farmers for further<br />

processing at its factory, and to supply independent Liberian<br />

rubber farmers with whom it deals, with everything needed for the<br />

efficient operation of their farms, estates, or plantations. For<br />

this purpose the company was granted a three-year exemption of<br />

customs duties, tariffs, or taxes (for imports related to the<br />

operation of the plant) , a two-year exemption period from all<br />

taxes and other assessments by the Government on the income of<br />

the company in order to permit it to amortize the outlay of its<br />

capital investment for the initial development of its operations,<br />

an "infant industry protection" - protective tariff - of five<br />

years, to ensure the minimum required quantity of purchases to<br />

justify the building of a plant, and to guarantee that the<br />

company will be the only foreign owner and operator of a rubber<br />

processing plant handling the production and output of<br />

independent Liberian farmers within a radius of 30 miles from

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