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| National |
| Whitex managers overtake Stanbic |
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by
Gedion Munthali, 30 June 2003
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17:53:07
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The High Court in Blantyre on Monday issued an order stopping Stanbic Bank from engaging a receiver to manage local textile manufacturer David Whitehead and Sons Limited (DWS) embroiled in a controversial privatisation deal due to unhonoured debts to the bank.
Judge Dunstain Mwaungulu granted the order to Whitex management barely hours after Receiver and Manager Raymond Davies of audit firm KPMG flighted an advertisement that “all debts due to the said Company should be paid to me and all claims with full particulars thereof should be forwarded to me for record purposes only.”
Acting DWS acting chief executive Evelyn Mwapasa said the order was obtained through Bernhard and Harris lawyers, and Stanbic has been given a chance to be heard in court on July 21.
Stanbic Bank, formerly Commercial Bank of Malawi, announced last week it had taken over the company and engaged KPMG to run and manage the affairs of the company on its behalf until an outstanding debt of K188.7 million is realised.
Mwapasa said in her affidavit sworn on Monday that the appointment of the Receiver and Manager “is in bad faith on the part of the Bank to the extent that their position as creditors is not impaired by the pending judicial review”.
She further observed that “it will be a professional betrayal of the conditions precedent of the sale agreement of the company if the Bank if permitted to hold on to the appointment of the Receiver.”
A presidential commission of inquiry on the company’s privatisation said in a statement on Friday that KPMG pledged to defer drastic decisions concerning the receivership until the committee has submitted its findings and appropriate executive decisions have been made and implemented regarding the future of the company.
Privatisation Commission executive director Maziko Sauti-Phiri is on record to have said on May 26 that the textile dinosaur has debt stocks amounting to K1.2 billion. He also indicated that government, in consultation with the commission, would have settled the debts following the sale of the company to Mapeto/Jimtex consortium.
In earlier court tussle, Whitex management and staff objected to the sale of the company at K73 million to Mapeto/Jimtex consortium saying the true value of the company should have been K300 million. |
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