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Tuesday, April 30, 2002 - Web posted at 9:03:17 pm GMT Talks underway to rescue money-lending companyWERNER MENGESLAWYERS involved in the High Court bid to liquidate the money-lending company responsible for a major part of the Michelle McLean Children Trust's income have expressed confidence that the case can be settled out of court. Indications that settlement negotiations were under way were relayed to Judge Gerhard Maritz in the High Court in Windhoek on Friday when he was asked to postpone the hearing of the application for the winding-up of money-lending company Finance in Education (FinEd) to May 27. Lawyer Reinhard Toetemeyer told Judge Maritz that the case had to be postponed in order to give the parties a chance to continue with settlement negotiations. Toetemeyer represents the Managing Director of both FinEd and the Children Trust (MMCT), Danie Botes, who has applied for the winding-up of FinEd. A May 10 deadline has been agreed on for reaching a settlement, with the case to continue if a deal had not been reached by then, Toetemeyer added. Botes and the MMCT both hold 20 per cent of the shares in FinEd. The remaining 60 per cent is held by the troubled Saambou Bank, which was earlier this year placed under curatorship in South Africa. Saambou's legal representative, Herman Oosthuizen, told the court he is confident that the matter will indeed be settled, with the time until May 10 only needed to sort out the technicalities of the settlement. If the winding-up is staved off, a company liquidation - which would have counted among the largest yet in Namibia in terms of the money involved - will be avoided. Botes's application is supported by former Miss Universe Michelle McLean, who founded the charity named after her. Botes told the court that when Saambou was placed under curatorship in February FinEd had some N$358 million in loans it had advanced to some 40 000 borrowers - mostly civil servants - which was still outstanding. However, the bank's appointed curator, John Louw, informed FinEd in February that Saambou would in effect not advance any more money to FinEd and would not consider any new loan applications from FinEd. According to Botes, this had the effect of bringing all FinEd's future business to a halt. Since FinEd was a backbone of the MMCT's funding, this brought the Trust's activities - which include the funding of heart operations for children, the building of schools and the upgrading of unqualified teachers' skills - to a standstill, Botes told the court. With FinEd's monthly running costs amounting to some N$225 000, Botes said, the company was heading for bankruptcy without the continued financial input its majority shareholder withdrew in February. Charging that the case was part of a plan by Botes to force Saambou out of FinEd and to pay the bank as little as possible in the process, Louw, on behalf of Saambou, told the court FinEd is solvent and should not be allowed to go under now, since it made a major contribution to the commendable activities of the MMCT. He also disputed Botes's claim that Saambou had cut off all funding to FinEd. According to Louw he had made an offer to Botes that FinEd could continue with its business as usual. Louw revealed that FinEd has earned the MMCT some N$6,7 million and Botes some N$6,5 million since May 2000. |
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