Former Monomotapa Garden Furniture company secretary Dawid Johannes Erasmus was yesterday convicted of seizing the furniture manufacturing company after imposing himself as a director selling shares worth $200 000 to a Chinese couple.
Erasmus was being charged alongside Yan Yu and Zhaosheng Wu, who were acquitted by regional magistrate Never Katiyo.
The complainant, Athur Fernando Pieria Dias, his wife Liliana and daughter Rosalie could not hide the joy of retaining their company as they hugged and kissed outside the Harare Magistrates Courts. He was remanded in custody to next Friday for sentence.
In his one-and-half-hour long judgment, Katiyo castigated the couple’s attempt to save their ill-gotten company by protecting Erasmus. “From the evidence before this court, it was quite clear Erasmus orchestrated all this,” he said.
“This court has no doubt the second and third accused (the couple) was used by the first accused (Erasmus) who had appointed himself the director.
“The actions by the second and third accused are a realisation of what they stand to lose if they associated themselves with the first accused. The second and third accused believed they had sealed a deal with accused who was a self-appointed director.
“It would appear the couple was taken advantage of being foreigners and not well versed with the local environment.”
The court heard that sometime in 2005, Dias left unsigned share certificates with Erasmus as he travelled to South Africa to seek medical treatment. Dias had instructed Erasmus to sell his company to the couple following which he would sign the share certificates upon receiving full payment for the company.
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The initial agreed purchase price of the company was$400 000 but was later reduced to $200 000 following several meetings between Dias and the Chinese couple.
When Dias failed to receive payment, he cancelled the sale agreement and issued the couple with an eviction order as they had started operating the company.
Dias later requested his company documents from Erasmus, but discovered that he had signed the blank share certificate and appointed himself together with the Chinese couple as directors, prompting him to report the matter to police.
