Just another stuff up by AVZ by the sounds...!Then came the DRC...

Just another stuff up by AVZ by the sounds...!

Then came the DRC court matters..!

In May 2021, Cong wrote to AVZ purporting to cancel the sale of Dathomir’s 15 per cent stake in Dathcom, citing the need for a valuation. AVZ says a valuation was not a pre-condition of the 2019 and 2020 share sale agreements and proceeded to make the final US$20m payment to Dathomir in August 2021, ahead of the deadline.

Dathcom, managed by AVZ’s technical director Graeme Johnston, subsequently lodged the signed transfer documents with the registrar of the RCCM – the official public share register in the DRC. A new share certificate showing AVZ’s 75 per cent holding was produced … and that’s when things started to get a little crazy.In an almost comical move, Cong dumped the US$20m back into AVZ’s bank account. AVZ then sent it back again, but this time the money was lodged in a lawyer’s escrow account (pursuant to a court order obtained by AVZ) and Cong was told to go get it – which he didn’t.Cong then attempted to claim the new share certificate issued by the RCCM was a forgery and perhaps inexplicably, managed to convince a criminal court in the DRC of his claim.

Perhaps even more inexplicably, the court found in favour of Cong and Dathomir and sentenced Johnston and the clerk responsible for creating new share certificates to three years’ jail and one year in jail, respectively – although happily, the clerk had his jail term suspended.