Paul Kyriacou, the chief executive of Capicol, the developer of projects that were syndicated by Sharemax Investments, has denied claims that he visited Cyprus with former Sharemax chief executive Willie Botha to arrange a transfer of money to that country.
Kyriacou said his lawyers were considering legal action over the allegations.
Capicol is a developer of the controversial Zambezi Retail Park and The Villa.
Chris de Beer, an attorney representing four investors in Sharemax syndications, said in an affidavit in support of an urgent application heard in the North Gauteng High Court last week that Botha and Kyriacou visited Cyprus a month ago “possibly for the purposes of arranging for funds to be removed and transferred from South Africa to Cyprus”.
Kyriacou said he was “terribly angry” about these claims because they were “an attempt to try and mislead everyone to think the opposite of what was happening”. He said the matter was being addressed by Capicol’s lawyers to defend the company’s name.
“Luckily it (the claims) is in court papers under oath. Whoever is spreading these rumours is using the law to spread lies. I deny it fully.
“I have never been out of the country with Willie Botha at any time. I don’t think I’ve been further than Sandton with Willie and that was about two years ago for a dinner. I don’t even want to see the guy. We have nothing to say to each other, especially after how things turned out,” he said.
Kyriacou said his last visit to Cyprus was in July for his father’s 60th birthday with his family “and Willie Botha is definitely not part of my family”.
De Beer challenged Kyriacou to prove that he had not been to Cyprus. He said his side’s allegations had been made under oath and Kyriacou must state it under oath and provide documentation to prove he had not been there.
Several other concerns were listed by De Beer in the court application to seek the permission of the statutory managers appointed to Sharemax to place 14 Sharemax companies under judicial management.
De Beer claimed misrepresentations might have been made during the Zambezi Retail Park arbitration and that Sharemax and Capicol were working together to the detriment of investors.
Kyriacou said the insinuations about the arbitration was that Capicol and Sharemax were working together to chase up the price for the centre to the detriment of investors.
He said representatives of the Reserve Bank were present for the entire arbitration and if the arbitration was a trick to drive up the price “then the government is part of it, which is a ridiculous allegation”.
The board of Zambezi Retail Park sought the arbitration because of a dispute between the company and Capicol about the outstanding amount of the purchase price for the centre.
Capicol claimed that R178 million was owed. Zambezi Retail Park claimed this was inflated and based on invalid lease agreements. The arbitration found Sharemax in debt of R64.5m to Capicol.
The application to liquidate 14 Sharemax companies was brought by Novo Energy, which has invested R10m in Sharemax Zambezi Retail Park; Herman Wolmarans and Anna Wolmarans, both trustees of the Wolmarans Familie Trust; and Alexander Ross.
It was opposed by 26 respondents, including Sharemax, the 14 companies, the registrar of banks and the statutory managers appointed by the registrar to Sharemax and all its syndications.
An order was granted allowing the registrar of banks to intervene in the matter and postponed it until February 28. - Roy Cokayne