Concerted efforts by business mogul, John Arnold Bredenkamp
to stop the auctioning of his private jet over a US$205 000 debt, recently went
up in smoke after High Court judge president Justice George Chiweshe threw out
an ownership claim by Longhorn Limited which sought to bar the Sheriff of the
High Court from selling the plane.
According to the court papers, Bredenkamp borrowed US$3,8
million from his business friend, Yaqub Mahomed, for the purposes of
recapitalising his mining business in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
but failed to pay the debt in full. This resulted in a protracted legal battle
and judgment was then entered in favour of Mahomed for US$3,8 million plus
interest, but the debt was then reduced to US$205 602 after taxation.
Through his lawyers, Mahomed instructed the Sheriff of the
High Court to attach Bredenkamp’s private jet. On May 31 last year, the sheriff
attached the plane and its removal was set for June 5, 2018.
Following this development, Bredenkamp’s lawyers filed an
urgent chamber application at the High Court to stop the removal pending
determination of a review application.
But, High Court judge Justice Happias Zhou dismissed the
application, a development that resulted in Mahomed instructing the sheriff to
proceed with the removal of the plane.
However, not to be outdone by the unfolding events,
Longhorn Limited came into the picture and claimed that the plane did not
belong to Bredenkamp, but rather it had been leased to him by an American
company.
The new development then caused the matter to be taken
before Justice Chiweshe who lambasted Bredenkamp for his antics with a view to
frustrate the execution of a court order.
“On a balance of probabilities, all indications points in
one direction, that the judgment debtor (Bredenkamp) is the owner of the
aircraft. In his attempt to evade execution in satisfaction of a judgment of
this court, the judgment debtor has colluded with the claimant (Longhorn
Limited) to file a non-existent claim. In fact, as the claimant is not the
owner there is no valid claim before this court,” Justice Chiweshe said.
“I agree with the judgment creditor (Mahomed) that an order
for cost on the higher scale is justified in this case.” Newsday
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