•Says moving to court to seek interpretation of orders cited by Sportpesa CEO.
•Karauri, also Kasarani MP, said shareholders agreed to eject Ndungu, and Asenath Wacera in a meeting held in Tanzania.
Image: MOSES ODHIAMBO
A leading Kenyan investor has fought his expulsion from Sportpesa as a shareholder, saying the decision by his estranged colleagues has no force of the law.
Pevans East Africa Limited board kicked him out alongside his business partner Asenath Wacera.
Pevans, which trades as Sportpesa, put a public notice on Friday saying Ndungu was no longer authorized to trade on behalf of the betting firm.
Sportpesa CEO Ronald Karauri communicated the decision to the beleaguered directors in a letter dated January 10.
He said in the letter obtained by The Star that the board reached the resolution in a meeting held in Dar es Salaam last October.
“Members of the company [representing the majority] unanimously resolved among other things [that] Paul Wanderi Ndungu and Asenath Wacera Maina, members/shareholders of Pevans East Africa Ltd are hereby expelled in accordance with Article 30 of the Company’s Articles of Association from the company with immediate effect from October 8, 2022,” the letter reads.
When contacted for comment, Ndungu said the meeting where the Sportpesa board expelled him alongside Wacera was not properly convened.
“There was no meeting held in Tanzania as per the Companies Act,” he stated.
In his letter, Karauri also warned the expelled directors against interfering with the business, citing a High court ruling of January 10.
Justice Alfred Mabeya barred the expelled directors from interfering with the business dealings or taking away any assets.
“Take notice that having been expelled, you lost all rights of a member and therefore you have no business instituting or maintaining any suit or legal proceedings purporting to act in the name or on behalf of Pevans East Africa Ltd,” Karauri’s letter read.
But Ndungu stated that the injunction issued against him and Asenath expired by operation of law on 24 January 2023 and that the same was not extended.
“In the order issued on January 10, 2023, by Justice Mabeya there is no mention of the word Sportpesa or Sportpesa Kenya as appearing in today's advert in both the Nation and Standard newspaper,” he stated.
Ndungu, through his lawyer Ekuru Aukot, has written to the deputy registrar Commercial Division, seeking clarity on the orders Pevans cited.
The expulsion letter stated that the directors commissioned an audit to ascertain the company’s share value.
“…with a view of establishing what amount, if any, is payable to the expelled members,” the letter states.
The board further resolved that the expelled directors be stopped from trading or transacting any business on behalf of Sportpesa.
Pvevans’ CR12 as of February 2 indicated that Wacera still held 210 out of the 1,000 shares while Ndungu controlled 17 per cent.
The others were controlled by foreign and local shareholders.
Karauri, in the letter, informed the expelled directors that the company was valued at negative Sh14.3 billion.
“The company shall proceed to transfer your shares to any member or non-member will to take the same,” Karauri said, citing Article 31, read with Article 9 of Pevans shareholder rules.
Sportpesa shortcodes, website, USSD numbers, and paybill numbers are among the assets at the centre of the dispute.