The embattled Bluthorn, which is currently under liquidation, says the directors and officers were the controlling minds behind the formation and the running of the business of the companies therefore, they are liable to pay BFM in the sum of P239 880 724.32. In the recently filed court papers by BFM final liquidator, Kopanang Thekiso, it states that Eune Engelbrecht, Joseph Mosimane, Tiyedzi Kamodi, Motlamedi Matome and Jeffery Sibisibi acted with intent to defraud investors. As such BFM wants the individuals who are said to have been jointly and severally been directors and officers of companies with the Group including Prime Employee Benefits (PEB), Bluthorn Procurement Solutions (BPS), Bluthorn Holdings and B Thorn be personally held responsible for acting recklessly and breaching their fiduciary duties. “The directors and officers were involved in the daily running of the business of the companies therefore they contravened provisions of the Companies Act and the Collective Investments Undertakings Act (CIU Act); and were the controlling mind behind the formation and the running of the business of the companies in the Group,” Thekiso said.
He added the directors were looking at enriching themselves at the expense of investors who were never updated on the running of the business. BFM Particulars of Claim In the papers, the liquidator on Claim A is seeking an order declaring that the defendants are personally responsible jointly and severally, the one paying the other to be absolved, for all of the debts of the companies in the Group in the total P239 880 724.32 a further relief the court may deem appropriate. Thekiso explained that during the course of the winding up of the companies in the Group it became apparent that the defendants carried on the businesses of the companies in the Group in a reckless manner, alternatively with the intent to defraud the creditors of the companies in the Group. “Alternatively they acted with the fraudulent purpose of unlawfully misappropriating the invested funds paid by the creditors and, unlawfully enriching themselves and other third-party beneficiaries,” he said.
