Can shareholders of a liquidated company sue its directors in their personal capacity? This has never happened in the post 1994 corporate South Africa, but the outcome of a court case in which African Bank Investments Limited’s (Abil’s) black economic empowerment (BEE) shareholders are suing directors of the failed company, as well as auditing firm Deloitte, for about R2bn could alter rules of the game. This was reported in Monday’s issue of Business Day.
Through their lawyer, Advocate John Myburgh, the plaintiff is invoking Companies Act of 2008. They claim the directors were culpable for the Abil’s collapse due to their reckless investment decisions. One case they bring up is the injecting money into the now defunct Ellerines, “without provision for security” and “in circumstances in which there was no reasonable prospects of the loans being paid”. Deloitte is being faulted for failing to spot financial irregularities.
how far is the case because we are not getting any correspondence anymore