Mengi ‘not party to agreement at centre of court case’

Dar es Salaam. IPP Executive chairman Reginald Mengi is neither a shareholder nor a director in a company at the centre of a suit in which the High Court (Commercial Division) passed judgment earlier this year, according to his lawyer.

Deogratias Ringia issued the clarification in response to reports that the High Court had issued summons for Dr Mengi to explain why he should not be imprisoned.

“I would begin by explaining that the principal party in the case is a company called KM Prospecting Limited which entered into the agreement with the plaintiffs. This agreement is the subject matter of the case. Dr Mengi is not a shareholder nor director in that company and was not a party to the agreement,” Mr Ringia said in a statement on Sunday.

He added that his clients were not satisfied with the verdict delivered on January 28, but could not appeal because no date was indicated on the copy of the judgment.

 “On the 19th February 2016 we wrote another letter requesting that the judgment be placed before the Judge who wrote it so that the error could be corrected. We were not supplied with a dated judgment so we sent another written reminder on the 10th March 2016 and made many physical follow-ups to the court itself. However, until now a valid judgment has not been supplied so that we can file an appeal,” Mr Ringia said.

The advocate concluded: “In any case, in the undated judgment the High Court decided that there was no evidence to substantiate the two allegations which the plaintiffs put forward against Dr Mengi. Moreover, the directors and owners of KM Prospecting Limited are not aware of any execution proceedings.”