The case involving Paramount Holdings Limited (PHL) Directors has today been adjourned to a yet to be determined date following a plea by the state through the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).
In a court notice, DPP Masauko Chamkakala said the state needs to review and understand the contents of the summons before proceeding with criminal charges against PHL’s directors.
The court summons case against Prakashi Virji Ghedia, Arvindkumar Atit Patel, Suresh Khimji Jagatiya and Paramount Holdings Limited is yet to commence.
This is the third time the state has failed to disclose the summoning charges against PHL’s directors while keeping on asking for court adjournments.
Proceedings were first adjourned from August 11 to September 6, 2023, and then from September 6 to January 17, 2024. Today, hearing of the case has been adjourned to an undisclosed date.
In an interview outside the court today, PHL’s lawyer Gift Katundu said that the summon proceedings failed due to two factors, the Chief Resident Magistrate’s absence and DPP’s plea for adjournment.
Katundu told journalists outside the court that “The defence team will keep on dancing to the state’s tunes within the timeframe given.”
He added: “Thereafter, my client will take another step if the state fails to bring the case to light.”
Background
Paramount Holdings (PHL) Limited directors are being accused of making a false document showing that the company is an authorised dealer of Yamaha Motorcycles in Malawi.
PHL is one of the leading and most reliable suppliers of agriculture implements and construction machinery and appointed dealer for Yamaha motorcycles and other Yamaha products in Malawi.
PHL has said in the past said that it believes that its competitors have been creating fake allegations against the company since Yamaha Japan appointed the company as an authorized dealer of its products in Malawi.
Earlier this month, three companies including Luthando Holding Limited sought court injunction stopping Yamaha Motors Limited from authorizing Paramount Holdings as an official Yamaha dealer in Malawi.
This comes despite Yamaha Motors issuing certificate to PHL as a sole distributor, seller and importer of Yamaha products to Malawi.
It was also revealed that one of the three complainants was Stansfield Motors’ Limited, a company which was closed in 2019 and has no current address.
This was revealed when different lawyers with default judgements against disbanded Stansfield Motors went to the High Court to learn on the physical address of Stansfield Motors as presented to the High Court.
Stansfield Motors was declared bankrupt for failing to pay bank loans of MK5 billion, consequently being closed and disbanded. Currently, former Stansfield Motors workers are in court claiming their dues.
In Malawi, PHL has been contributing significantly to the welfare of Malawians through donations to public health facilities and timely delivery of farm inputs in the Affordable Input Programme (AIP).
PHL was probably the first entity to heed a call from President Lazarus Chakwera to the corporate world to help in the renovation of Area 25 Health Centre in Lilongwe after it got vandalized by angry Mgona residents early 2023. It is the only company that donated state-of-the-art equipment to the facility.
A few months later, PHL sourced a modern ambulance, medical equipment and furniture from a Japanese company, Itochu Cooperation, and Takemoto Oil and Fat Co. Limited.
The ambulance and all the other supplies were donated to Therere Health Centre in the area of Senior Chief Ngabu in Chikwawa.
At the height of scarcity of NPK and UREA fertilizers in 2022, the company successfully assisted the government in securing a huge tonnage of the inputs, which were distributed to thousands of farmers where it was contracted to supply.
