BEITBRIDGE Senator Tambudzani Mohadi has been sucked into a company ownership wrangle pitting her husband Home Affairs co-minister Kembo Mohadi and his business partner Reginald Dawson.
Report by Dumisani Sibanda, Bureau Chief
Mohadi and Dawson are fighting over control of Nerry Investments and its subsidiaries, which include Beitbridge Transit Shed. The firm was recently placed under provisional liquidation following the dispute.
Barbara Lunga, the firm’s provisional liquidator, filed the application last week seeking the nullification of an appeal made by Mohadi on September 13 at the Supreme Court.
In their Supreme Court appeal, Mohadi and his new business associates argued that a High Court provisional order granting Lunga authority to investigate Tambudzani’s CBZ Bank personal account was granted in error as being provisional liquidator of the company did not give her authority to make such an application.
They also said they were against “the granting of an ex parte provisional order having final effect as against the respondents” when they contended the applicant, Lunga, had no “locus standi” to make the application for such an order.
But Lunga accused the minister and his associates of trying to frustrate her investigations into allegations that they used his wife’s personal account to ‘‘launder” money from the company and used it for their personal purposes.
Lunga said she got the authority to file the chamber application to investigate Tambudzani’s personal CBZ Bank account from the Assistant Master of the High Court.
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“What I found confirmed my worst fears, namely that the third respondent (Tambudzani Mohadi)’s personal bank account was unlawfully being used to launder the company’s revenues. If I had not been granted that interim relief, I would not have discovered the fact that the company’s funds were being abused by the respondents (Mohadi and associates) to the company’s prejudice,” she said.
Lunga said between January 24 this year and July 13 this year, $199 994,85 of the company’s income went into Tambudzani’s bank account, adding as at July 13 this year the closing balance was $57 605,20.
She said she feared “the (remaining) money will be abused like most of the money has been before”.
Lunga submitted that the Supreme Court appeal stood in her way in an attempt to “rescue” the remaining amount.
“The whole purpose of bringing my application by way of urgent chamber application will be defeated as I understand that appeals to the Supreme Court may take as long as a year, if not more, before they are heard,” she submitted in her application dated October 9 this year.
“This, in a case where the appeal has no merit and is not properly before the Supreme Court, would amount to a travesty of justice.”
Lunga said it was for this reason that she was asking the High Court to declare the appeal to the Supreme Court by Mohadi and his associates “irregular” and “therefore does not suspend the provisional order to the applicant (Lunga) on September 6, 2012”.
