×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Engineering firms’ directors fight over liquidation

News
A HARARE engineer is up in arms with his business partner, who has approached the court seeking the winding-up of their joint business ventures, Matabeleland and Yagden engineering firms, after the pair allegedly failed to amicably work together.

A HARARE engineer is up in arms with his business partner, who has approached the court seeking the winding-up of their joint business ventures, Matabeleland and Yagden engineering firms, after the pair allegedly failed to amicably work together.

BY CHARLES LAITON

Tony Renato Sarpo approached the High Court under case number HC9207/16, seeking liquidation of the two firms based in Msasa, Harare, claiming he invested $681 773 as a shareholder.

However, his business partner, Wayne Williams, opposed the application, accusing Sarpo of creating artificial insolvency after allegedly externalising over $700 000 to South Africa between 2013 and 2015.

In his application, Sarpo said, in June this year, he communicated to Williams his intention to resign as a director of the engineering firms and sell his shareholding. Williams allegedly accepted the offer and demanded that Sarpo surrender all company assets.

“Notwithstanding his acceptance of my alleged offer to sell my shareholding, he went on to prescribe that my share value would be ascertained through an audit, which would be completed in six months. There was no indication as to when the audit would commence,” he said, adding there was conflict between the two shareholders.

Williams, however, dismissed Sarpo’s averments, saying although some differences had arisen between him and his partner, that would not warrant the winding-up of the firms since new directors had been appointed.

“Since the resignation of the applicant from the first and second respondents (Matabeleland and Yagden engineering firms), two more directors were appointed to run the affairs of the companies… Upon the resignation of the applicant, I advised him, since he still has custody of all the financial records of the first and second respondents to prepare financial statements to determine the value of his shareholding. This has not been done, but instead the applicant proceeds to file this spurious application,” he said.

Williams further accused Sarpo of filing improper documents with the court, saying the proper documents would show they would be from the Registrar of Companies as returns.

“The documents are not even issued by the Registrar of Companies and, as a director, I am not even aware of their existence. They are, in short, contrived documents,” he said.

In one of his correspondences to Yagden Engineering dated November 18, 2016, Williams said Sarpo was refusing an audit and was playing evading games.

“We are failing to account as to where the money ($700 000) was being remitted to. However, our investigations point to the fact that LMF Import and Agriparts are his companies to where the funds were being transferred to… Sadly it has been established more than $700 000 was siphoned out of the company account to South Africa over the period 2013 to 2015,” he said.

The matter is still pending.