Businessman wins fraud case against ENG bosses

A Harare businessman has been acquitted of fraud charges related to alleged fraudulent alteration of the directorship of an investment vehicle owning an upmarket Harare property and subsequently disposing of it.

Former ENG Capital Investment and ENG Asset Management directors Mr Nyasha Watyoka and Mr Gilbert Muponda had filed a criminal case against one Martin Murimirambeva, accusing him of fraudulently changing the directors of Theright Investments, a company that owns Belgravia House, and subsequently disposing it.

The ENG directors claimed Mr Murimirambeva and one Leno De Villers approached the Registrar of Companies and fraudulently obtained documents depicting them as the directors of Theright Investments.

Mr Watyoka and Mr Muponda claimed the sale of the property prejudiced them US$1,5 million.

According to Harare Magistrate Court papers, Belgravia House was owned by Theright Investments, which was in turn owned by Engagem, a subsidiary of ENG.

ENG Capital Investment and ENG Asset Management were placed under liquidation in 2004, with Mr Reggie Saruchera of Grant Thornton appointed as the liquidator.

During the liquidation process, Theright Investment was sold to Prosdeng Investments, owned by the Coumbis family.

Mr Murimirambeva told the court that Theright Investment was not an operating company then and only held the property, which automatically changed directorship when the Theright Investment was liquidated

The property was transferred to JR Coumbis, Robert Harvey and George Nyashanu.

Mr Murimirambeva said he was appointed by Leno De Villiers to sell the property.

He also told the court that the two complainants lost the High Court cases relating to the same dispute because they were no longer directors of the company.

During re-examination, Mr Murimirambeva stressed that he had a resolution that authorised him to act on behalf of the company.

Mr Saruchera was called to testify by the defence.

He told the court that a resolution was made to place ENG Assets Management and ENG Capital Investment under liquidation and that he was appointed the liquidator of these entities in January 2004.

Mr Saruchera told the court that Mr Watyoka and Mr Muponda offered Belgravia House, the property owned by ENG, to the liquidator for sale.

Mr Saruchera “made it clear” that Theright Investment was liquidated along with ENG and that as a result of the liquidation, the directorship of the company automatically changed.

Because of this, Mr Watyoka and Mr Mponda were removed from the directorship as a consequence of the liquidation process.

Mr Watyoka and Mr Muponda had argued that ENG and Theright Investment were two separate entities and that the liquidation of the former would not affect the latter.

“It is on the backdrop of the above that the court believes that the accused could not have deceived the registrar of companies to update records by removing the complainants who were already out of the company through the liquidation process,” the court said.

“With that, the court finds that the State could not prove that the accused fraudulently removed the complainants from being directors.

“In my view, there are these conflicting versions viz, that the accused fraudulently removed the two complainants as directors.

The second version is that the company was long liquidated and the complainant had already been removed In order to convict, the evidence must establish the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, which will be so only if there is at the same time no reasonable possibility that an innocent explanation which has been put forward might be true.

“In the result, the court comes to the conclusion that the state failed to prove its course beyond reasonable doubt.”-herald