Businessman has to repay R2.4m

A DURBAN businessman who paid himself R2.4 million from his company months before it was liquidated, has been ordered to pay the money back.

Durban High Court Judge Yvonne Mbatha made the order in a recent judgment in a case brought by the liquidators against Ashraf Akbur and GSC Trading CC.

She ordered that Akbur and GSC Trading CC repay the money and the costs of the application.

Akbur’s attorney, Arthi Sing, said this week that her client was “displeased with the judgment” and he had instructed that an application for leave to appeal be made.

She declined to comment further on the matter as she said it was “sub judice”.

The liquidators, who are handling the affairs of Golden Rewards CC, trading as Global Steel Corporation, brought the court action as they alleged that Akbur had made payments from the company to another of his companies, GSC Trading, before the company could be liquidated in October 2013.

They said this was in contravention of the Insolvency Act and the Close Corporation Act.

Golden Rewards stopped trading in early 2013 and two of three of the close corporation’s members left the business at this time, leaving Akbur as the only member.

Thereafter, payments were made to GSC Trading, which Akbur said were for loans that had been given to Golden Rewards.

Akbur was also paid his salary from Golden Rewards and paid his mother, who he claimed was owed as she had paid a loan on behalf of the company to GSC.

He said the payments were made in the ordinary course of the business.

But the two other members of the business (who had subsequently left) said in affidavits that they had no knowledge of GSC giving loans to the company and that the only loan account was in the name of Akbur.

The liquidators claimed that while Golden Rewards was insolvent, Akbur continued to make payments in various guises for his benefit despite there being a letter of demand from creditor Aveng Trident Steel, which was owed R10.9 million.

Judge Mbatha said Akbur had been under no pressure to make payments to GSC, but there had been a letter of demand from Aveng.

She said that the company had been placed under business rescue before its liquidation, which was a clear indication that it was struggling to meet its commitments.

“A formal demand of payment was made by a creditor (Aveng) as early as April 2013, but no payment was made to the major creditor. Instead, GSC was paid. The sole controlling member of the close corporation pays according to him GSC, his alter ego, where he is also a sole shareholder.”

She found that the payments had not been made in the course of the business of the close corporation.

Kerry Cullinan

LAWYERS acting for gold mineworkers with silicosis will present their case today in the Gauteng High Court for why a class-action case against gold-mining companies should be allowed.

The 69 applicants want to claim damages against 32 gold-mining companies, including AngloGold Ashanti, Goldfields and African Rainbow Minerals, on behalf of all mine workers who have contracted silicosis.

The applicants, including dependents of men who have already died of silicosis, have waited three years for the court to hear their application for permission to proceed with the class action suit.

Lawyer Richard Spoor, whose company represents 30 000 affected mineworkers, says 1 200 clients have already died of silicosis.

Silicosis is an incurable, progressive lung disease caused by the inhalation of tiny silica (quartz) particles raised during mining. It causes inflammation of the lungs, chest pain, coughing, fever and breathlessness.

Spoor said: “Silicosis is a wholly preventable disease, yet, for more than 100 years, the South African goldmining industry has continued to cause thousands of new cases of silicosis a year with no consequence.

“The purpose of the litigation is to put an end to the impunity that the mining industry enjoys, and to hold it accountable for the harm that it does.”

While statutory compensation for miners with lung disease was established many years ago, very few mineworkers who are entitled to compensation receive it because there was so much red tape involved.

The applicants’ lawyers said they had had to resort to the courts because undertakings by the Chamber of Mines to compensate ex-mineworkers with silicosis had not been rolled out as promised.

However, the Chamber of Mines head of health, Thuthula BalfourKaipa, said that while the chamber “cannot comment on litigation, One Stop Service Centres have been established in Mthatha and in Carltonville, in partnership with the Department of Health and the National Union of Mineworkers”.

Meanwhile, Chamber of Mines spokesman Alan Fine acknowledged that “the pilot projects put in place (as part of the Former Mineworker Project) were not as successful as hoped”. For this reason, eight gold-mining companies had formed a partnership with the Department of Health to try to speed up the compensation process. – Health-e News.