Kenyan businessman and former SportPesa Chair Paul Wanderi Ndung’u has suffered a major blow after a London court dismissed his allegations linking SportPesa’s offshore holding company to fraud and conspiracy.
Ndung’u had accused SportPesa Global Holdings Ltd, now SPG Ltd of fraud, conspiracy, and illegal dilution of his stake.
He claimed that the firm’s directors and shareholders including Guerassim Nikolov, Gene Grand, Kalilina Lyubomirova, Dick Wathika’s widow Asenath Wachera, and others had orchestrated a scheme to improperly reduce his shares from 17 percent to 0.8 percent between 2019 and 2022.
He argued the moves breached U.K. company law and were part of a plan to kick him out of the betting business.
However, in a ruling delivered on Nov. 18, Justice Edwin Johnson of the High Court in London found no fraud, forgery or conspiracy in the dilution of Ndungu’s stake.
Johnson ruled the capital raises were commercially justified and properly approved, noting that SportPesa was under pressure after Kenyan regulators suspended the local licence of Pevans East Africa Ltd, the company behind the SportPesa brand.
The company, he said, needed cash to stabilise operations and fund expansion into markets such as Italy, South Africa, Tanzania and Russia.
Additionally, the court said it lacked substantial evidence that SPGHL directors conspired to dilute Ndung’u’s shares illegally.
Ndungu had also asked the court to grant relief for unfair prejudice under Section 994 of the Companies Act. The court however dismissed the plea on the ground that there was no oppressive or unfair management conduct that would justify compensation.
The judge concluded that Ndung’u had not demonstrated that the company’s affairs were conducted unfairly to him as a shareholder and ordered him to pay $2.9 million (About Sh375 million) in legal costs.
“We are delighted with this decision. The UK High Court found that the allegations made against us had no substance. We always knew that we acted legally and properly at all times, and this judgment confirms that,” SportPesa Directors state.
“In a 190-page judgment, the UK High Court found no evidence of the allegations made against SportPesa. We are looking forward to putting this behind us and focusing on our future growth and expansion,” they added.
The ruling brings to an end to Ndung’u’s long-running London battle as other disputes continue in Kenya over trademark.
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