Round two of the legal battle between KREM Radio and Sagis Investments Limited is slated to begin on Wednesday, March 18, in the Court of Appeal. Sagis is challenging the decision made last May by Dr. Abdulai Conteh, Chief Justice, who dismissed Sagis’s application asking the court to grant the company 10% shareholding in KREM.
Sagis had asked the court to transfer to that company 50,000 shares belonging to KREM’s majority shareholder and Amandala publisher, Evan X Hyde, which Sagis insists it is owed based on a $100,000 loan/investment in KREM in early 1994.
KREM’s directors had executed a promissory note for $75,000, to be repaid with discounted advertisements in the Amandala. $25,000 was paid for shares; however, the directors refused to sell and on the strength of the pre-emption rights enshrined in the company’s articles of association, the transfer was never implemented.
In his ruling last May, the Chief Justice ordered KREM to refund Sagis the $25,000 with 6% interest from June 1994 to November 2007, when the claim was taken before the court.
X Hyde had previously offered a money refund, but Sagis rejected the offer and insisted on the 10% of KREM.
Chief Justice Conteh also ruled that Sagis should pay KREM $30,000 in costs, to offset expenses KREM has incurred in defending the claim brought by Sagis.
Attorneys Michael Young and Lois Young (no relation) are still representing KREM, while Sagis is represented by Vincent Nelson, QC, a British barrister, and former Solicitor General Elson Kaseke.
At the time of the transaction, Sagis was a subsidiary of Ashcroft’s Belize Holdings, now BB Holdings, and was reportedly used for the sole purpose of acquiring shares in KREM.