Senior Chief Kaomba faces bankruptcy

Senior Chief Kaomba of Kasungu risks bankruptcy for failing to settle K392 million owed to Afri Ventures Blantyre Limited for fertiliser he bought from the company in 2019, court documents show.

According to creditor’s petition for bankruptcy filed at the High Court (Commercial Division) in Lilongwe on July 13 2022, the senior chief trading as Yaminya Trading Company failed to pay the outstanding debt within 21 days of his being served with the Statutory Demand under Section 190 of Insolvency Act 2016.

The accused allegedly also alternatively failed to secure the said debt to the petitioner’s satisfaction or the satisfaction of the court.

Justice Ken Manda, who is presiding over the case, has set October 28 2022 to hear the matter and has asked the respondent to file with Registry grounds for dispute, if any, before that date.

Reads the petition: “That the respondent is justly and truly indebted to the petitioner in the aggregate in the sum of K392 457 442.00 plus interest thereon, being the amount due for goods supplied by the petitioner, and not paid for by the respondent.”

In an interview last week, lawyer for the company Justin Dzonzi observed that the fact that a petition was filed means that the respondent did not comply with the statutory demand.

He explained that legally when a person is declared bankrupt, they are presumed to have no ability to conduct business or economic affairs in their life and another person known as trustee must be appointed to look after such a person and his or her property.

Said Dzonzi: “During the status of being bankrupt you cannot hold a public office, you legally are not allowed to transact, so you cannot enter into contract, if at all you do that through your trustee. For the respondent, as a chief, it means he would have to cease being a T/A, that’s a public office under the Chiefs Act.”

In a telephone interview, Chief Kaomba’s lawyer Moses Chinkhuntha said he was yet to be served with the court documents and; therefore, could not comment.

In his sworn affidavit dated June 23 2022, Afri Ventures managing partner Vimay Kamble stated that the respondent came to the company’s offices in December 2019 for the purchase of fertiliser, which he claimed was to be supplied to a farmers’ cooperative in his community, and the two parties entered into a contract for the supply of fertiliser valued at K2 612 000.000.

A copy of the contract submitted to the court, which we have seen, shows that the contract was signed on December 4 2019.

A supplementary sworn statement by the Afri Ventures accountant Samuel Kafinyangwe shows that between 2020 and 2021 the company supplied the respondent______metric tons (MT) of NPK23-10-5+65+Izn at the price of K20 100.00 per 50 kg bag, 3 000 MT of Urea 46 percent N at the price of K17 700.00 per 50kg bag and 153.5 MT of CAN 27 percent at K17 200 per 50 kg bag on cash terms totalling K434 084 000.00. The affidavit further shows that against each supply of the fertiliser, the company invoiced the respondent accordingly but only K41 626 558.00 was paid leaving a balance of K392 457 442.00.