Pevans East Africa: A bitter fight over shares and some Sh. 29.1 billion has emerged at SportPesa. The fight comes barely days after the resumption of SportPesa in Kenya failed to materialize.
According to a report that appeared in the Business Daily on Monday, the fight has local owners Paul Ndung’u and Asenath Wacera on one side and SportPesa’s Bulgarian owners with Ronald Karauri on the other side.
At the heart of this fight is the allegation that Sh. 29.1 billion was transferred from the company’s accounts to overseas accounts without the approval of some owners.
“Businessman Paul Wanderi Ndung’u and Asenath Wacera Maina, who have a combined stake of 38 percent, reckon they were not informed of the Milestone deal, which was made public by SportPesa CEO Ronald Karauri on Friday. Ndung’u reckons that local top shareholders of Pevans East Africa, the entity behind SportPesa in Kenya, were excluded from buying shares in the holding company — SportPesa Global Holding Limited (SGHL) — leading to dilution of their ownership in the UK-based firm,” the report says.
Ndung’u owns a 17 percent stake in Pevans and 2.8 percent of SGHL while foreign owners led by Bulgarians own 80 percent of SGHL 47 percent in Pevans. Karauri owns a six percent stake in Pevans East Africa while Wacera owns 21 percent stake in Pevans. Peter Kihanya Muiruri, a cousin of President Uhuru Kenyatta, owns a one percent stake. American Gene Grand owns 21 percent, Bulgarians Valentina Nikolaeva Mineva three percent and Ivan Stoyanov Kalpakchiev two percent.
The report says that Wacera has demanded for a forensic audit on the company starting from 2015. However, foreign interests have resisted the move for an audit to be conducted in a move that has hinted at deeper boardroom con games.
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The report further quotes a protest letter from Ndung’u. “After persistent push, the management report indicated that within three years Pevans has transferred over $250 million (Sh. 27.1 billion) to various offshore accounts in Isle of Man, Dubai and Las Palmas/Canary Islands. Shareholders have also come to learn that subsequent to ceasing operations, $500,000 (Sh. 54.3 million) has been transferred from Pevans to SportPesa South Africa while another $17.5 million (Sh. 1.9 billion) has been transferred to Sportpesa Tanzania. We want to know who the beneficiaries of these accounts are,” the letter says.
The can of worms on SportPesa was opened by investigative journalism site Finance Uncovered. This site revealed that Pevans and its owners were using complex financial arrangements to shift billions of shillings outside the country while paying less taxes in Kenya.