Zimpapers Logo

Lovemore Chikova Features Writer
It all started in 1996 when Dr Vivek Solanki established the Trauma Centre at 17 Lanark Road in Harare. Then, no one knew that the facility would be embroiled in one of the longest legal disputes in Zimbabwe and the fight to control the state-of-the-art facility ensured with fierce disagreements among

shareholders and attempts to elbow out each other.

When the battle finally ended last month after the Supreme Court declared African Medical Investments the rightful owners of the property, now located at 15 Lanark Road,

more than 30 lawsuits and a substantial number of court orders had been issued.

In fact, the wrangle kept on shuffling back and forth between various courts, with allegations and counter allegations being raised by Dr Solanki and directors of AMI. There was intrigue, suspense, wins and losses, losses and wins and deadlocks.

The intriguing court battles centred mainly on issues of shareholding, ownership and occupation of the property.

Documents produced in court showed that AMI acquired Dr Solanki’s VIP Healthcare Solutions on December 2008 for a price consideration of five million British pounds payable in AMI plc shares in tranches.

AMI’s lawyers, Salans of UK, on December 8 2009 paid $240 000 for the building at 15 Lanark Road which houses the Trauma Centre.

These two transactions effectively transferred both the Trauma Centre and the building to AMI plc which began to operate the facility under Streamsleigh Investments in 2010.

The real court battles started in January 2011 when Dr Solanki’s company, Autoband Investments, applied to the High Court to have AMI evicted from the Trauma Centre premises, but the case was never heard and is still pending in the courts.

From then on, Dr Solanki put up a big fight in an attempt to be declared the sole owner of the health facility, but evidence shows that in most instances, the courts ruled his motions lacked merit.

Dr Solanki was so desperate to control the hospital that he would even launch appeals against rulings by the Court of Appeal.

“He was so persistent to the extent that if there was an administrative control in the justice system that stops persistent litigants from suing repeatedly he would have been told to stop,” said a legal expert who preferred anonymity.

The case rumbled on slowly through the courts, with at least one of the parties appealing every time a ruling was handed down.

In some instances, some felt that the battle to control the medical facility had turned into a clear case of abuse of the court process.

And this was also the observation of Supreme Court judge Justice Anne-Mary Gowora when she made the ruling that led to the eviction of Dr Solanki on June 17 this year while upholding an earlier judgement by a magistrate that Autoband be evicted from Trauma Centre by AMI.

“The abuse of court process is clear,” said Justice Gowora. “It’s (Dr Solanki and Autoband) conduct throughout the period that the dispute has been raging deserves censure by this court.”

In another ruling on an urgent chamber application by Dr Solanki, High Court judge Justice David Mangota also criticised Dr Solanki for lacking seriousness.

“The applicants (Dr Solanki and Autoband) must, however, take the blame for the manner in which they handled their case,” he said. “They knew that what they were doing was a legal impossibility and they all the same proceeded to act in the manner which they did.

“The court will, accordingly, censure them for their unwholesome conduct.”

Now that the dust has settled and the courts have ordered the eviction of Dr Solanki from the medical facility, AMI says it is ready to re-open the hospital that is vital to the country’s health delivery system.

“We are sorting out a number of issues that have been neglected in some instances,” said AMI spokesperson Mr Peter Annesley. “We need to acquire some licences and settle debts over bills like electricity and some of the equipment has been removed from the hospital.”

Mr Annesley said the hospital will soon have a double story to accommodate more patients and increase beds from about 14 to around 40.

But Dr Solanki vows to keep on his fight to gain control, but law experts warn that there are no more constitutional matters arising from the case after several rulings were made in favour of AMI.

The battle started with the establishment of Trauma Centre by Dr Solanki around 1996 which later moved into 15 Lanark Road, a property owned by the Estate of the late Rosa Aladeff which was managed and administered by Kantor and Immerman.

In 2008, Dr Solanki acquired CA Meifco, a company registered in Mauritius through nominees, Minerva Nominee One Limited, while in the same year African Medical Investments PLC was incorporated in the Isle of Man.

In the same year, Dr Solanki’s CA Meifco changed its name to VIP Healthcare Solutions Limited and the same year saw Dr Solanki and AMI plc sign a director’s service agreement for him to be the CEO of African Medical Investments PLC.

On December 10 2008, AMI plc formally acquired VIP Healthcare Solutions Limited from Dr Solanki for a price consideration of five million British pounds payable in AMI plc shares in tranches.

This saw Dr Solanki securing 24 million AMI plc shares which he holds through the Minerva Trust Company.

On the same day, the shareholding of VIP Healthcare Solutions was formally transferred to AMI plc, resulting in AMI plc’s lawyers, Salans UK, paying $240 000 for 15 Lanark Road and the subsequent transferring of title deeds to AMI’s Streamsleigh Investments t/a AMI Hospital Harare.

Despite having finalised all takeover procedures, Dr Solanki refused to vacate Trauma Centre forcing AMI to approach the court, resulting in his Autoband getting notice to vacate, but he contested the ruling in the High Court. (HC 4465/10).

In July 2010, Dr Solanki was suspended as Trauma Centre CEO and he subsequently resigned and a fraud of $957 000 was discovered by a forensic audit carried out by Price Waterhouse Coopers.

What followed were applications and counter applications at the courts, which culminated in the Supreme

Court ruling on September 23 2014 confirming the order of eviction against Dr Solanki and Autoband it had issued earlier.

Dr Solanki once caused the arrest of Mr Annesley and three others on fraud charges, but the charges failed to stick and they were acquitted by magistrate Mr Clever Tsikwa after a trial which ran from January 7 2013 to November 1 2013.

But the court battle heated up in the last five months as illustrated by the brief timeline below:

· 17 June 2014 – Supreme Court judgment SC 43/14 is handed down and orders the reinstatement of Streamsleigh at 15 Lanark Road. (SC 43-2104)

· 18 June 2014 – Autoband lodges a Constitutional Court appeal against the Supreme Court judgment in its entirety citing Streasmleigh as the respondent. (CCZ 43/14)

· 24 June 2014 – Streamsleigh lodges Constitutional Court application (CCZ 45/14) seeking to have the Autoband appeal (CCZ 43/14) be declared invalid and dismissed.

· 24 July 2014 – Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku rules that CCZ 43/14 must be heard by the full Constitutional Court bench and refers the matter of the eviction to the Supreme Court. (CCZ 08/14)

· 29 July 2014 – Autoband attempts to have HC 4632/12 set-down before Justice Makoni, but the judge postpones the matter indefinitely on the basis that it cannot be treated as ‘suddenly’ urgent when it was filed on 3 May 2012.

· 30 July 2014 – Streamsleigh counters with a High Court chamber application (HC 6446/14) for removal of a bar sought in HC 4632/12

· 7 August 2014 – Autoband lodges Constitutional Court application (CCZ 60/14) joining Streamsleigh as a co-applicant against AMI plc seeking the same relief as in MC 4095/12 and HC 4632/12 to interdict AMI plc from using the name Streamsleigh Investments.

· 23 September 2014 – Supreme Court (SC 72-2014) confirms the order of eviction by AMI plc in SC 72/2014. Within 28 minutes of the confirmation, Autoband lodges a High Court urgent chamber application against AMI plc and the Sheriff.

· 23 September 2014 – Autoband with Streamsleigh and Dr Solanki file an urgent chamber application to interdict AMI plc and the Sheriff from evicting Autoband from 15 Lanark Road. (HC 8386/14)

· 30 September 2014 – Supreme Court Registrar advises the Sheriff to proceed with the eviction.

· 2 October 2014 – Justice David Mangota hands down his ruling in which he dismisses the urgent chamber application (HC 8386/12) by Dr Solanki. Autoband management hands over Trauma Centre to AMI plc.

· 3 October 2014 – The final stages of the eviction are completed at 6pm

· 7 October 2014 – Trauma Centre staff lodge an urgent chamber application against Streamsleigh and the Deputy Sheriff which is dismissed with costs. (HC 8887/14)

· 8 October 2014 – Trauma Centre staff lodge complaint against Streamsleigh with the Labour Office and subsequently conjoins Autoband.