Published by the government of Zimbabwe
6 October 2008
Harare — AMG Global Chartered Accountants got a whooping US$700 000 in service fees from TAP Products limited, a Zambia company which had been placed under the control of an administrator under the Reconstruction and State Indebtedness Act.
The accounting company whose proprietor is Mr Afaras Gwaradzimba ran TAP from 2005 to 2008 before the Zambian Supreme Court ruled that it was invalid for Zimbabwe laws to be used in running a Zambian company.
According to documents seen by this paper, AMG was paid the money in tranches from TAP, a company owned by South African Zimbabwe born businessman, Mr Mutumwa Mawere.
About 49,4 percent of the total amount or ZK1,2 billion (US$345 829.98) was paid in seven tranches during the period 30 June 2006 through 30 March 2007 to a Zambia Company registered under the name, AMG Global Chartered Accountants.
Mr Gwaradzimba was appointed administrator for Shabani Mashava Mine by the Zimbabwe Government in 2004 after it felt that the mining group was exposed.
An official with TAP Products said the company would institute a legal suit to recover the money claimed by AMG.
The official said money claimed by AMG was not justified as "there was no service rendered to it to give rise to the claims."
Contacted for comment, Mr Gwaradzimba could not confirm the figures he received in fees, but he said what he did was above board as it had been sanctioned by authorities both here and in Zambia.
"There is no basis for anyone to make any claim against AMG because every action we took was sanctioned by authorities in both countries.
"When we went there, we approached the High Court of Zambia which grant us the right to run TAP. The fees we charged was six percent of turnover and that is what is prescribed by our law," said Mr Gwaradzimba.
"I am aware of efforts by some people to discredit our job but that would not deter us. Any legal process will reach its logical conclusion and we will be waiting for that."
According to a letter dated 8 March 2006 addressed to the Master of the High Court of Zimbabwe, Mr Gwaradzimba said the fee was in respect of professional services provided pursuant to the operation of the Zimbabwean law in respect of a Zambian registered company.
The invoices issued to TAP, however, did not come from AMG Global Company of Zimbabwe but rather by a Zambian registered company.
According to correspondences, the fee collected was based on TAP's turnover and unencumbered assets.
Some board members appointed by the Administrator were also paid US$137,318.4 in fees, travel and accommodation expenses.
The attorneys representing Gwaradzimba in the Zambian litigation, Mulenga Mundashi and Company was also paid US$127 346.10.
In May, the Zambian Supreme Court ruled that the Zimbabwean laws could not be allowed to be applied extra-territorially, a development that saw, Mr Gwaradzimba ceding control to former shareholders of the company.
He said he would have to wait the outcome of an application in the High Court he made early this year seeking to have Mr Mawere and his company Africa Resources limited to be held as culpable in accordance with the Reconstruction of State Indebted Companies Act.
Mr Mawere has however denied any wrongdoing, adding that it was strange that the amount of money being claimed against him was the same amount being claimed from his companies.
He felt that the right course of action to take was to go through the liquidators of the companies in South Africa.
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