adminShareholders representing 77 percent stake in the company who attended the unsanctioned meeting fired board chairman Professor Christopher Chetsanga and two other directors, Mr Collin Kahuni and Mrs Monica Maitirwa Mukonoweshuro.
The central bank maintained that the shareholders did not have the power to convene the meeting that was requisitioned without the approval of the curator in terms of the Section 54 (1) of the Banking Act.
“The proposed RFHL extraordinary meeting scheduled for January 25, 2012 is irregular and unlawful,” said the central bank.
This means that the results of the meeting are a nullity and the three board members remain legitimate members of the Renaissance board.
There had been conflicting statements regarding the proposed EGM supposedly held on January 17 2012 that was later postponed to January 25.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said the meeting was illegal without clearance from the central bank and the curator of the bank, Mr Reggie Saruchera.
Shareholders who voted in favour of booting out the trio argued that Mr Saruchera was the curator of the bank and not the holding company thus they did not require the blessing of the curator to restructure the board.
In a statement prior to the EGM, Professor Chetsanga said the January 17, 2012 meeting was adjourned on the basis that the directors of RFHL did not have the powers to convene such a meeting without the approval of the curator.
The RBZ said that the meeting was being convened by members who are subject to the Corrective Order and is designed to interfere with the work being undertaken by the RBZ and the curator of the bank.
Renaissance Merchant Bank was placed under curatorship in June last year after investigations unearthed fraud at the bank resulting the central bank filing a criminal complaint against Messrs Patterson Timba and Dunmore Kundishora.
Messers Timba and Mr Kundishora were then removed from the board of directors for both the bank and the holding company and directed to reduce their shareholding.
Curator Mr Saruchera maintained that the powers of RFHL directors were suspended upon the placement of the bank under curatorship.
“A direction of placing a banking institution under curatorship has the effect of suspending the powers of every director, officer, and shareholder of the institution concerned, save to the extent that the curator may permit them to exercise their powers,” said Mr Saruchera in a statement.
Online Reporter