Lusaka – Thursday 25th July 2024
…..For the avoidance of doubt, having ruled that this matter is indeed statute barred, the Ex Parte Order granted by the Court on 16th April 2024 appointing the Administrator General of the Republic of Zambia the Official Receiver as Interim Business Rescue Administrator is hereby discharged and this matter is therefore dismissed for being statute barred”…
The Livingstone High Court has dismissed an application in which a purported worker of Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited sought to wind up the business of the company.
This is a similar route that Lewis Nathan Advocates took in winding up Affairs of The Post Newspapers.
In this case, the Supreme Court has granted compensation to shareholders of the Sun Pharmaceuticals worth millions of dollars following overpayment made in the loan repayments to the Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ).
It is these funds that have brought intense interest in the company and Lewis Nathan Advocates have brought various actions representing the estate of the late Hon. Kalenga and other parties.
In the Livingstone matter, Lewis Nathan Advocates on behalf of the Kalengas, applied to place Sun Pharmaceuticals under business rescue purporting that a worker, a Mr. John Masheta, was owed past salaries and benefits.
In her ruling discharging the Exparte Order granted in April 2024, Hon. Lady Justice Mbile Wina ruled that in the instant case, other than the Mr. Musheta stating that he was owed salary arrears from over 30 years ago, he had not provided any evidence to show the court that there was in effect a plan to implement the rescue of the Respondent Company.
She ruled that equally, the 2nd Affected person, a Jacob Funyina, had simply re-echoed what the applicant has stated as being the administrator of his late father’s estate, who was an alleged former employee of the Respondent Company and was owed arrears for the period 1992 to 1993.
Justice Wina ruled that the period of 30 years ago means that the 2nd Affected person’s claim was also stale and therefore statute barred.
She stated that the first affected person (Uddit Sadhu) has alluded to the abuse of Court
process by the Lewis Nathan Advocates, namely that there was an identical winding up petition filed at Ndola High Court under Cause No. 2024/HN/93 and that prior to that winding up petition, the principal parties, namely the Kalenga brothers had previously filed before this court in Ndola but later discontinued and restarted a fresh process in Livingstone.
“Having already stated that this matter is in fact statue barred, the issue of it being an abuse of Court process has
become otiose.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, having ruled that this matter is indeed statute barred, the Ex Parte Order granted by the Court on 16th April 2024 appointing the Administrator General of the Republic of Zambia the Official Receiver as Interim Business Rescue Administrator is hereby discharged and this matter is therefore dismissed for being statute barred.”
This action was commenced by John Musheta who claims to have been an employee of
Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited and that he is owed salary dues and terminal benefits for the period between January 1991 and December 1992
But Uddit Saddu, who is a manager and shareholder in the company responded that Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited has never been served with any demand for payment of salary
dues or indeed terminal benefits due to the Applicant and that he only became aware of this claim for the first through this action.
He said neither he nor Sun Pharmaceuticals Limifed have ever been served with the Originating process issued in this action or any other documents taken out in these proceedings for commencement of business rescue and the appointment of a Provisional Liquidator for Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited
He therefore insisted that Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited does not owe a Mr. John Musheta, any salary dues or terminal
benefits for the period between January 1991 to December 1992 or any other period which claim, even assuming it was valid is a stale claim by Zambian law.
He said Mr. Musheta had never produced any Contract of Employment to show that he was an employee of Sun Pharmaceuticals or any document that shows that he was entitled to a salary of USD3,000.00 per month from Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited.
He said Mr Musheta had exhibited a purported letter as an instruction from Mankolo Nayani, the alleged Joint Liquidator of Union Bank Zambia Limited directed to J & M Advocates to pursue Sun Pharmaceuticals for a purported debt.
It must be stated that Union Bank Zambia Limited is not privy to this action and
therefore the letter referred to saved no purpose.
He said that if Union Bank indeed had a genuine claim against Sun Pharmaceuticals, it was up to Union Bank to pursue such claim directly with Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited and not via a proxy.
He stated that it was clear that the Applicant therefore had no locus standii to bring the action against Sun Pharmaceuticals
Limited, based on purported stale claim or indeed based on an alleged ciaim by Union Bank Zambia Limited.
Lewis Nathan Advocates had taken a similar application in winding up The Post Newspapers and used a similar modus operandi.
According to Mr Sadhu’s affidavit, the litigation was intended to achieve similar aims as proceedings commenced ex parte in the Ndola High Court by Zambia by Lewis Mosho on behalf of Zambia Modern Enterprises, John and Mususu Kalenga under cause 2024/HN/93, where an Ex Parte Order to appoint a provisional liquidator, Mr Tresphfod Kabanga, was granted by Judge Lameck Mwale on 28 February 2024 – whose appointment has since been stayed.
The same Tresphfod Kabanga was intended to be appointed as Business Rescue Administrator in the Livingstone matter.
In the case of The Post, they used a worker Abel Mbozi, obtained an exporter order and proceeded to liquidate The Post.
The matter has been discussed extensively in The Supreme Court Ruling rendered on the 17th February, 2022.
Its decision in the case of Fred Mmembe and Post Newspapers Limited v Abel Mbozi and Others Appeal No 7 of 2021. This was a matter where a shareholder and director of a company in liquidation appealed against a decision of the lower courts. Lewis Mosho was accused of illegally winding up the affairs of the company using exparte orders.
This case has attracted interest following the University of Zambia Law Lecturer, Dr. Obrien Kaaba that exposed the abuse of State Chambers for purposes of purveying corruption.
In this case of Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the intention is to misuse State Chambers by obtaining an ex parte court order to change the company’s status and divert compensation fund payments due from the Judgement Debt to a group involving Lewis Mosho and others.
LIVINGSTONE HIGH COURT DISMISSES LEWIS MOSHO’S MACHINATIONS AGAINST SUN PHARMACEUTICALS AS KALENGAS’ LEGAL SUIT TO APPOINT A BUSINESS RESCUE ADMINISTRATOR IS THROWN OUT
Lusaka – Thursday 25th July 2024
…..For the avoidance of doubt, having ruled that this matter is indeed statute barred, the Ex Parte Order granted by the Court on 16th April 2024 appointing the Administrator General of the Republic of Zambia the Official Receiver as Interim Business Rescue Administrator is hereby discharged and this matter is therefore dismissed for being statute barred”…
The Livingstone High Court has dismissed an application in which a purported worker of Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited sought to wind up the business of the company.
This is a similar route that Lewis Nathan Advocates took in winding up Affairs of The Post Newspapers.
In this case, the Supreme Court has granted compensation to shareholders of the Sun Pharmaceuticals worth millions of dollars following overpayment made in the loan repayments to the Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ).
It is these funds that have brought intense interest in the company and Lewis Nathan Advocates have brought various actions representing the estate of the late Hon. Kalenga and other parties.
In the Livingstone matter, Lewis Nathan Advocates on behalf of the Kalengas, applied to place Sun Pharmaceuticals under business rescue purporting that a worker, a Mr. John Masheta, was owed past salaries and benefits.
In her ruling discharging the Exparte Order granted in April 2024, Hon. Lady Justice Mbile Wina ruled that in the instant case, other than the Mr. Musheta stating that he was owed salary arrears from over 30 years ago, he had not provided any evidence to show the court that there was in effect a plan to implement the rescue of the Respondent Company.
She ruled that equally, the 2nd Affected person, a Jacob Funyina, had simply re-echoed what the applicant has stated as being the administrator of his late father’s estate, who was an alleged former employee of the Respondent Company and was owed arrears for the period 1992 to 1993.
Justice Wina ruled that the period of 30 years ago means that the 2nd Affected person’s claim was also stale and therefore statute barred.
She stated that the first affected person (Uddit Sadhu) has alluded to the abuse of Court
process by the Lewis Nathan Advocates, namely that there was an identical winding up petition filed at Ndola High Court under Cause No. 2024/HN/93 and that prior to that winding up petition, the principal parties, namely the Kalenga brothers had previously filed before this court in Ndola but later discontinued and restarted a fresh process in Livingstone.
“Having already stated that this matter is in fact statue barred, the issue of it being an abuse of Court process has
become otiose.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, having ruled that this matter is indeed statute barred, the Ex Parte Order granted by the Court on 16th April 2024 appointing the Administrator General of the Republic of Zambia the Official Receiver as Interim Business Rescue Administrator is hereby discharged and this matter is therefore dismissed for being statute barred.”
This action was commenced by John Musheta who claims to have been an employee of
Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited and that he is owed salary dues and terminal benefits for the period between January 1991 and December 1992
But Uddit Saddu, who is a manager and shareholder in the company responded that Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited has never been served with any demand for payment of salary
dues or indeed terminal benefits due to the Applicant and that he only became aware of this claim for the first through this action.
He said neither he nor Sun Pharmaceuticals Limifed have ever been served with the Originating process issued in this action or any other documents taken out in these proceedings for commencement of business rescue and the appointment of a Provisional Liquidator for Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited
He therefore insisted that Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited does not owe a Mr. John Musheta, any salary dues or terminal
benefits for the period between January 1991 to December 1992 or any other period which claim, even assuming it was valid is a stale claim by Zambian law.
He said Mr. Musheta had never produced any Contract of Employment to show that he was an employee of Sun Pharmaceuticals or any document that shows that he was entitled to a salary of USD3,000.00 per month from Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited.
He said Mr Musheta had exhibited a purported letter as an instruction from Mankolo Nayani, the alleged Joint Liquidator of Union Bank Zambia Limited directed to J & M Advocates to pursue Sun Pharmaceuticals for a purported debt.
It must be stated that Union Bank Zambia Limited is not privy to this action and
therefore the letter referred to saved no purpose.
He said that if Union Bank indeed had a genuine claim against Sun Pharmaceuticals, it was up to Union Bank to pursue such claim directly with Sun Pharmaceuticals Limited and not via a proxy.
He stated that it was clear that the Applicant therefore had no locus standii to bring the action against Sun Pharmaceuticals
Limited, based on purported stale claim or indeed based on an alleged ciaim by Union Bank Zambia Limited.
Lewis Nathan Advocates had taken a similar application in winding up The Post Newspapers and used a similar modus operandi.
According to Mr Sadhu’s affidavit, the litigation was intended to achieve similar aims as proceedings commenced ex parte in the Ndola High Court by Zambia by Lewis Mosho on behalf of Zambia Modern Enterprises, John and Mususu Kalenga under cause 2024/HN/93, where an Ex Parte Order to appoint a provisional liquidator, Mr Tresphfod Kabanga, was granted by Judge Lameck Mwale on 28 February 2024 – whose appointment has since been stayed.
The same Tresphfod Kabanga was intended to be appointed as Business Rescue Administrator in the Livingstone matter.
In the case of The Post, they used a worker Abel Mbozi, obtained an exporter order and proceeded to liquidate The Post.
The matter has been discussed extensively in The Supreme Court Ruling rendered on the 17th February, 2022.
Its decision in the case of Fred Mmembe and Post Newspapers Limited v Abel Mbozi and Others Appeal No 7 of 2021. This was a matter where a shareholder and director of a company in liquidation appealed against a decision of the lower courts. Lewis Mosho was accused of illegally winding up the affairs of the company using exparte orders.
This case has attracted interest following the University of Zambia Law Lecturer, Dr. Obrien Kaaba that exposed the abuse of State Chambers for purposes of purveying corruption.
In this case of Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd, the intention is to misuse State Chambers by obtaining an ex parte court order to change the company’s status and divert compensation fund payments due from the Judgement Debt to a group involving Lewis Mosho and others.