Proprietors of Glen Forest Memorial Park have dismissed as malicious and baseless claims by some of its disgruntled minority shareholders that more than 40 000 bodies in the vicinity of the popular cemetery face exhumation.
This comes after Newsday sensationally claimed this week
that more than 40 000 bodies will be exhumed at Glen Forest Memorial Park,
which falls under Chikomo Chemhute, belongs to Mazowe Rural District Council
and that the cemetery and crematorium had not been legally regulated by
Government
However, in a statement, the board of directors for Glen
Forest shot down the allegations that were made by Mr Joseph Crnkovic that
minority shareholder Folpud Investments (Private) Limited discovered that the
cemetery was being run illegally.
“It is with considerable concern that the directors,
management and staff of Glen Forest Memorial Park have read the malicious and
totally untrue accusations of fraud, misrepresentation and criminal activity
alleged by a certain Joseph Crnkovic who purports to represent a minority
shareholder in the business of Glen Forest Memorial Park, Folpud Investments
Private Limited. This ugly and uncalled for malicious attack has been made
without any regard whatsoever for the feelings and sensitivities of people who
have loved ones buried at Glen Forest and to that extent, we unreservedly
apologise to all our customers and stakeholders,” reads the statement from the
board.
According to the statement, Folpud Investments is a foreign-controlled
company whose principal is Hillary Duckworth with Mukwa Fund, a Bermuda-based
entity.
“We state unequivocally that these accusations have no
foundation in reality and that the facts are that Crnkovic, Duckworth, Folpud,
and the Mukwa Fund represent a disgruntled, vindictive and malicious minority
shareholder who is seeking to destroy the reputation of Glen Forest and spread
fear and despondency throughout the Glen Forest community,” read the statement.
As part of the smear campaign, the minority shareholder has
reportedly been sending letters falsely accusing the board of fraud,
misrepresentation, and criminal activities.
“It is our view that personal attacks and accusations made
against individual directors are totally uncalled for and represent an abuse of
cyberspace and are in actual fact ‘Cyber Bullying”’.
The directors and management would welcome an investigation
into these allegations by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (“ZACC”), The
Zimbabwe Republic Police and any other appropriate agency of the Government of
Zimbabwe.
“Unlike Crnkovic, Duckworth, Folpud, and the Mukwa Fund,
Glen Forest is completely transparent and has nothing to hide. The actions of
Crnkovic, Duckworth, Folpud, and the Mukwa Fund are deliberately designed to
mislead the public concerning the affairs of Glen Forest and are tantamount to
smear a legally compliant Zimbabwean company,” read the statement in part.
While the story that was published in Newsday claimed that
Glen Forest is in Mazowe, under the country’s laws, the cemetery and
crematorium are licensed and regulated by Goromonzi Rural District Council.
All applicable permits from the relevant authorities,
including the Environment Management Authority (EMA) have been obtained and the
company met the brick and cement lining and casing of graves as specified by
EMA.
“Glen Forest was the first cemetery in Zimbabwe to adopt
this practice for grave preparation. We are unaware of any mass exhumation
orders as reported in NewsDay. Such a process requires the prior approval of
the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Zimbabwe Republic Police. We state clearly
that Glen Forest has not yet sold 40,000 graves and at present there are less
than 10,000 people buried within the cemetery.
“We have not received any formal communication or been
served with any papers from Mhishi, Nkomo Legal Practice who according to
Newsday has written to ZACC and various service providers to Glen Forest.
“For the record, disputes between the shareholders have
been taken to court in Zimbabwe by the minority shareholder and are either
pending or have been resolved in favor of the majority shareholder. The conduct
of the minority shareholder in this saga is therefore as a direct consequence
of their failure to succeed with their court applications against the majority
shareholder. The Directors, Management, and Staff of Glen Forest have been
running this business for more than a decade, we have nothing to hide. We are
accountable to our customers, regulators, and all our stakeholders. We are
willing to cooperate fully with authorities to confirm the facts pertaining to
Glen Forest”. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment