happiness Chikwanha
Yeukai Karengezeka
Court Correspondent
A Harare man has taken his father to court for allegedly selling a prime property, Dandaro Village, for US$250 000 without his consent as the sole shareholder of the company that owned the property.
The father had been voted out of the company before the sale. The complainant is Lakeland Ventures (Pvt) Ltd by its director Gregory Graham Hall.
Graham Garnet Metcalf Hall (86) of Borrowdale Brooke appeared before Harare regional magistrate Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa, who remanded him out of custody to July 27 since he was coming from home.
Graham divorced Gregory’s mother Noreece Lesley Hall and the complainant continued staying with his mother.
Prosecutor Mr Anesu Chirenje alleged that on January 7, 1998, Lakeland Ventures (Pvt) Ltd through its Director Noreece Lesley Hall paid $1 million to Wenham Investments for the purchase of Dandaro Village.
On May 11, 2005, Graham misrepresented that he bought Dandaro Village from Wenham Investments (Pvt) Ltd and the Registrar of Companies and Deeds acted upon that misrepresentation and transferred Dandaro Village into his name under Deed number 2675/2005 while fully aware that the property was bought by Lakeland Ventures (Pvt) Ltd.
On March 18, 2008, Gregory Graham Hall and Lesley Hall were appointed Directors of Lakeland Ventures (Pvt) Ltd. On the same day, Lesley Hall was also appointed Secretary of the Lakeland Ventures (Pvt) Ltd.
The court heard, Graham was dismissed from the directorship of Lakeland Ventures (Pvt) Ltd through a resolution of minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on May 18, 2008 and he never owned any shares in the company to date.
It is understood that Noreece died on November 3, 2010 and was still a director but no longer owned any shares in the Company as she had previously donated and transferred all of them to her son Gregory.
However, it is alleged that sometime in 2016, Graham sold Dandaro Village to Stephen Heathcote Hacker for US$250 000 and payment was made into Wintertons Legal Practitioners’ trust account.
On January 23, 2017, he also caused Registrar of Deeds to transfer Dandaro Village from his name into Stephen Heathcote Hacker name under Deed number 346/2017.
Gregory discovered the offence and reported the matter to the police and investigations were carried out leading to the arrest of his father.
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