THE STORY OF ERIC WINSON – AN INTERNATIONAL CROOK AND CONMAN

THE STORY OF ERIC WINSON – AN INTERNATIONAL CROOK AND CONMAN*l

Most of you may remember the story of Eric Winson the man who nearly tricked the zambian government into believing that he could turn ordinary grass into diesel in the Chiawa Area in the mid 80s.

Anyone who had dealt with Winson said the same thing, why couldn’t he just settle down and do an honest day’s work. He was the best salesman and con artist this world has ever seen.

This is not an exaggeration.

He annoyed his South African colleagues when he sold the Godfather of modern South Africa rugby Louis Luyt, his first aeroplane while on holiday there. It was one of the few straight forward honest deals he ever did in his life. His life was a giddy series of swindles, frauds, cons and lies. He could have been a millionaire within a year if he had only gone straight. Instead he became a millionaire conning people all over the world.

After bouncing one cheque too many, he moved to South Africa in 1960 one step ahead of the law and he went spectacularly bankrupt in the process leaving a lot of distressed creditors out of pocket. He then proceeded to perpetuate a massive fraud that made South Africa too hot for him. He flew out Rhodesia and abandoned the plane a Cessna 182 at the airport. He moved to Natal and set himself up as a farmer and commercial pilot. He did these rather well but could not resist going back to his first love, swindling people.

In the middle of one of Southern Africa’s periodic droughts, he had an idea. He proceeded to phone every farmer he could in Northern South Africa and Rhodesia.

Easy to do as long as you were patient, they were all listed in the phone book and like all good conmen, Eric was patient. He sat down to make thousands of phone calls.

He sold them all the same story, he had just read about the terrible drought and all the cattle dying.

As a rich philanthropist who did not want to see animals suffer, he offered to house them free of charge at his impressive ranch for free until the rains came.

Gullible farmers from all over South Africa and Rhodesia promptly put their cattle on trains to their new home. Except of course Eric promptly offloaded the cattle and took them to abattoirs and slaughtered them and sold them for a pretty profit.

When the farmers wanted their cattle back, Eric feigned ignorance and said, “Which cattle?“ The gullible famers had shipped off the cattle without documentation and there were no receipts or delivery notes with Eric’s name on them.

In 1966, Eric Winson went to Zambia for the first time. He was smuggled across the board by an accomplice. When he came back as he endeavoured to smuggle himself back to South Africa he was arrested.

The court room was full of drama with the handsome Winson waving to his beautiful wife and the whole story came out.

In 1969, when South Africa became too hot for him, Eric Winson, found his way to South America. Once again he suffered the wrath of the law. This time, in 1970, caught trying to smuggle counterfeit dollars into Argentina.

The money was hidden under the blankets of the pram of his baby. He was jailed but however escaped. He now found himself in the land of opportunity, the United States of America. He was to be a resident of the US from then on but he continued a life of the International Con Man.

In 1976, he was arrested and jailed for fraud in the Switzerland. He made his way to the United States and settled there.

After many and various frauds and even becoming an arms dealer in 1986, Eric Winson made a new friend, Home Affairs Minister, General Kingsley Chinkuli of Zambia. He spun a big tale of wanting to invest in Zambia. Winson as usual was ready with a charming smile and patiently stalking his next victim, the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

When he made his appearance in Zambia it was spectacular. He and the wife arrived in separate planes. He booked the Presidential Suite at the Intercontinental Hotel and presented a bank draft of $1 million dollars. He convinced the government to hand over a huge chunk of farm land in Chief Chiawa’s area and intriguingly mentioned he had developed a process that could turn any vegetable matter into diesel. That was intriguing to the government.

Meanwhile Eric Winson charmed the Minister in getting him a Zambian diplomatic passport. Who could doubt this man, a man with two planes, and a man investing thousands of dollars into a farm on the Lower Zambezi and with over a $1 million dollars on deposit?

He spun stories of another Nakambala on the Zambezi; he would turn Zambia into a paradise. However there was unease in certain circles. Oliver John Irwin, an accountant who had worked closely with Kaunda had his misgivings. Certain white farmers recognised the spiv and cad who had left a trail of bounced cheques from Ndola to Cape Town 20 years before.

Eric Winson then presented in an elegantly bound document his process to convert anything organic like grass or straw into diesel. Zambian scientists looked it over declared the science fine but wanted a demonstration. After all many people had done this before but the cost of doing it was huge. Winson claimed by adding a special catalyst the process speeded up and worked fine and was cheap.

The demo that followed did not impress anyone and infact, most of the press came away convinced Winson was a fraud. Then the roof fell in. But a usual Winson never got caught. After the demo, Zambian CID had picked up the rumours that this Winson was indeed the Eric Own Winson who had conned and cheated his way through what are now Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa.

When the dossiers from various policemen came through, there were even warrants of arrest pending from the Middle East where an Arab prince had lost millions of dollars to Winson. When the reports were forwarded to higher authorities, the order came to arrest Winson.

When the police swooped onto his farm, Winson was gone. He had abandoned a large farm well equipped with irrigation equipment and farming implements. He, his wife and children had flown out in their planes and the last known destination was Namibia. Zambia and South Africa in 1988 did not have extradition treaties.

Winson died in 2007, 75 years old and living in comfort in America and now an American naturalised citizen however even his nationality was a tangled affair. Winson was born Zimbabwean, taken up South African citizenship, had dubiously acquired Zambian citizenship and died supposedly an American.

_In his two year stay in Zambia, the flamboyant Eric Winson had patiently shown the Zambian government and Zambian citizens he was a genuine investor and had published plans to transform Zambian agriculture. He had also his oil from grass plan. It was all a big con.It is not known how much he milked out of the Zambian government. He also brought a string of business visitors to Zambia. Knowing Winson, he must have continued fleecing more victims.

A lovable charming rogue with a truly amazing charm, this man had for close to 50 years conned people right across the planet. If there is indeed an afterlife or a heaven or hell, he may have conned his way to heaven and is busy picking pockets there.

FOOTNOTE: Eric Owen Winson is actually no more. He passed away on September 10, 2009. A Google through the internet revealed that Eric died at his home in Dripping Springs, Texas, after several years’ struggle with various blood disorders. He was the only child of Charles Edwin Winson and Roma Attwell Winson.

Part of his obituary reads: “Throughout his life, he(Eric) was involved in numerous humanitarian projects in various parts of his beloved Africa, from Niger to Zambia, to Tanzania. Eric is survived by his wife Karen,of Dripping Springs, Texas, and daughter Melinda of Lake Forest, Illinois. He is also survived by 11 grandchildren(Ryan, Ross, Mark, Rick, Countenary, Emma, Ian, Durban, Lillian, Errol and Roman).”

May his soul rest in peace.