Deposed Trauma Centre founder traumatised

12 Oct, 2014 - 09:10 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

Deposed Trauma Centre and Hospital chief executive and founder Dr Vivek Solanki says African Medical Investments (AMI) stole the state-of-the-art health institution he built over 19 years after the company failed to give him five million British Pounds worth of shares.

He also said he was “a Zimbabwean son” who should be protected from Rhodesians “bent on undermining the legitimacy of Zimbabwean sovereignty”.

Dr Solanki was evicted from Trauma Centre about two weeks ago based on a court order, and accuses AMI Plc of reneging on a share purchase agreement entered into in 2009.

“The management agreement they are showing is not an agreement of sale. They did not pay five million Pounds. So, why do they claim they own anything?

“I formed AMI Plc with Rhodesians Phil Edmonds and Andrew Groves. I was to be paid five million Pounds for my abilities to build hospitals in Africa. My experience is having built over 20 clinics and hospitals in South Africa and regional Africa. AMI Plc did not pay me; they wanted me to sell the clinic in Harare, but we did not agree as they did not pay me the agreed five million Pounds.”

He continued: “They must show agreement of sale or the loan agreement. They cannot come and tell fancy stories of investment. I have owned Trauma Centre since 1995. I am a Zimbabwean son and my country should protect me from such unscrupulous fraudsters masquerading as investors.

“They are Rhodesians bent on undermining the legitimacy of Zimbabwean sovereignty. When did they buy me out of Autoband Investments? Where is the agreement of sale? When did they buy me out of Streamsleigh Investments, which owns land of Trauma Centre? I am the original owner. I was an employee of AMI Plc and majority shareholder.”

However, in a letter dated October 1, 2014, AMI Plc chairman Mr Peter Botha said his company was formed in May 2008 by former directors Phillipe Henri Edmonds (Zambian), Andrew Stewart Groves (Zimbabwean) and Izak Cornelis Holtzhausen (South African) with a view to acquiring health sector businesses in Africa.

Mr Botha said in December 2008, AMI entered into a series of transactions to acquire VIP Healthcare Mauritius, which was owned by Dr Solanki and operated two clinics — Trauma Centre and the Airport Medical and Vaccination Centre at OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mr Botha said Dr Solanki subsequently became AMI Plc group chief executive officer.

The letter reads, in part: “Terms of the transaction were the following; Minerva Trust (Solanki) was issued shares in AMI Plc for a maximum consideration of five million Pounds which were to be satisfied by the issue of up to 40 million shares.

“These shares were apportioned in the following manner: 16 million shares were issued at completion of the AMI Plc/VIP Healthcare transaction, eight million were issued when the AMI Plc in Dar es Salaam was opened and 16 million were to be issued based on profit targets (these targets were never met by VIP Healthcare and so no shares were issued).”

Mr Botha insisted that Streamsleigh Investments was established by AMI lawyers and not by Dr Solanki, adding that the Streamsleigh Trust owned 100 percent shares.

Streamsleigh then acquired the freehold property at 15 Lanark Road, Avondale, Harare, for US$240 000 using AMI Plc funds.

Dr Solanki’s lawyer, Mr Jonathan Samukange, in turn, said the Trauma Centre transaction was not paid for by AMI.

“AMI didn’t pay the five million Pounds . . . shares were not released, nothing was given to Solanki. There was a dispute between AMI officials and Dr Solanki over why the former bought an aeroplane without the knowledge of Solanki who was the CEO at the time.

“The AMI officials were supposed to consult Solanki since he was the group CEO in terms of the provisions of the Companies Act. Further, there is no agreement of sale for the Trauma Centre. If they claim that they bought Streamsleigh, where is the investment certificate from the Zimbabwe Investment Authority because these guys (AMI) are foreigners? How did they bring the money to Zimbabwe? Where is the proof that they invested in Zimbabwe?”

In his letter, Mr Botha said he formed a consortium with Harbinger Capital Partners and invested US$2 million into AMI Plc in a shareholding of 18 percent.

“AMI Plc owns 100 percent of Streamsleigh, an entity which was established by AMI Plc’s lawyers and not Dr V Solanki. Endy Mhlanga does not in any way represent AMI Plc or any of its subsidiaries and has no mandate whatsoever to make comments on behalf of AMI Plc or any of its subsidiaries.

“Dr V Solanki tendered his resignation from the post of group CEO of AMI Plc on July 13, 2010,” reads part of the letter.

On December 12, 2012, Mr Botha wrote to Dr Solanki, asking him to rejoin AMI Plc.

This was despite allegations that Dr Solanki had misappropriated about US$1 million at Trauma Centre.

Mr Botha wrote: “Also the other directors (not Edmondes and Groves) will be very quick to point out to me that they believe they have claims against you based on audit reports they have. I do not want to get into this at all because in the end we will achieve nothing.

“So, you and I need to use our brains on this. One, we role some of the claim into the propco equity and two, we role some of the claim into future earnings option. I really hope that you are amenable to this suggestion and that we can proceed.”

Dr Solanki responded on December 17, 2012, saying there was no official audit against him, adding that documents taken from his office were manipulated and given to auditors.

“. . . when I confronted the auditors, they agreed that they only had one side of the story and were prevented from verification by me and as such, they did not complete the reports.

“Also please understand that if we do not conclude this soon, I will not be able to hold back my actions for too long so as to not lose my momentum gained against AMI so far.

“You (Mr Botha) have lost US$2m so far. I have lost over US$12m. Do the math. All I’m asking for is a third of my actual cost — US$1,2m of US$3,6m. Balance can be paid back monthly as you had put forward as a possibility or as future earn-outs or shares. AMI stands to lose US$55m.”

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds