Vox Telecom charges Dealstream with theft
VOX Telecom, the AltX-listed telecoms service provider, on Wednesday became the first company to announce it was laying charges of theft against failed brokerage Dealstream and its directors after Vox had to write off R60,8m in related losses.
Since Dealstream fell apart at the end of September, the brokerage has been placed under provisional curatorship and was briefly placed under provisional liquidation. The liquidation order came to an end in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday.
Although Bernard Levenstein, the curator, said he would consider pressing criminal charges once his investigation was complete, only Vox has taken this step so far.
Many other companies, such as Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), Investec, the Industrial Development Corporation, Ernst & Young, Worldwide African Investments, the JSE and Control Instruments, have been harmed, either through reputational damage or the loss of money, following the collapse of Dealstream.
But laying criminal charges against Dealstream and its former CE, Russell Leigh, who has fled the country, is not likely to yield results for Vox.
Mike von Holdt, chief financial officer of Vox, said yesterday it looked as if Vox shares had been “fraudulently misappropriated” by Dealstream and that it was unlikely Vox would be able to recover any of the money owing to itself or to staff.
Investigations have also shown that Dealstream’s liabilities outweigh its assets and, at most, there is R16m left in Dealstream’s accounts.
Nonetheless, Tony van Marken, executive chairman of Vox, believed the company had to take action against Dealstream in order to protect the rights of his company and its staff. Four of Vox’s directors lost a significant portion of their holdings in the company while two directors had all of their holdings wiped out.
Answering questions in Johannesburg on Wednesday, Van Marken said Deloitte was designing a new share-incentive scheme for key personnel but the work was not yet finished. Shareholders would have a chance to vote on the new scheme at a special annual general meeting which may be held in January. Van Marken said Vox’s largest shareholders had been supportive of the plans for a new incentive scheme.
On Tuesday, the Pretoria High Court placed Dealstream’s curator’s report under embargo until February next year. A number of sources have said this was an odd move given that the report had already been filed in the court and sent to all of the parties involved and all of their teams of attorneys.
Nonetheless, the Financial Services Board said that after the court ordered that the report and affidavit of RMB remain confidential, “anyone in possession of the report is not permitted to disclose the contents of the report to any person”.
RMB said on Tuesday it found references to its dealings with the curator damaging and wanted the report kept under wraps. Mike Field, chief financial officer of RMB, said it might make RMB look like it had something to hide, but the investment bank objected to the insinuation it had not co- operated with the curator.
Vox Telecom – Dealstream discussion
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