The TRP investigation set out to determine whether this associate, Ebrahim Adamjee, and his family are “interrelated parties” with Magister Investments, the Mauritius-based company making the bid for Tongaat. The conclusion reached by investigator Zano Nduli is an unequivocal “yes”, which means the share purchases must be presumed to represent Magister and the Adamjees acting in concert to sway the vote.
Confronted with this apparently straightforward relationship, Adamjee only provided a “bald denial” that he had a genuinely significant business relationship with Rudland. The tobacco tycoon is supposedly only “a non-resident non-executive director and is not involved in the business operations”, according to a sworn statement by Adamjee.
’ – literally meaning hiding behind one’s thumb – which describes a situation where a person clumsily obfuscates in an attempt to shirk responsibility.”The voided resolution was a waiver of the normal requirement that anyone buying more than 35% of a public company must offer to buy out all other shareholders. It was cited as a major precondition for the deal when the transaction was set out in a circular to Tongaat shareholders in December.