After losing a court battle on the axing of its chief
executive Peter Moyo, Old Mutual has decided to appeal the ruling.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed financial services
group on Tuesday left the South Gauteng High Court with a bloodied nose after
the judge ruled that its chief executive should be reinstated with immediate
effect.
Moyo had been fired last month after relations between him
and Old Mutual soured when he was placed on suspension in May following
accusations of conflict of interest as he is a founder of investment firm, NMT
Capital, in which Old Mutual is an investor.
Moyo also successfully interdicted Old Mutual from hiring
his successor while the company was ordered to foot his legal bill.
However, the company said in a media statement released
last night that relations between it and Moyo had broken down irretrievably.
"... after considering the terms of the judgement and
taking legal advice (Old Mutual) will immediately apply for leave to appeal
against the High Court decision to grant former CEO Peter Moyo temporary
reinstatement following his dismissal as CEO in June," said the company in
a media statement released last night.
"The filing of the appeal will suspend the operation
of the court order. Mr Moyo has been informed that he is not required or
permitted to resume his duties, pending the outcome of the appeal proceedings.
"Old Mutual maintains that the urgent application by
Mr Moyo was ill-conceived, contained a number of false allegations, and should have been
dismissed. While the company respects
the court and its processes, it now plans to appeal to a higher court to argue
that it acted lawfully when it terminated Mr Moyo’s employment.
"The company has maintained throughout that it
followed sound governance principles when it took this step, and that it gave
valid notice under Mr Moyo’s employment contract.
"Old Mutual is clear that there has been a complete
and irreparable breakdown in trust and confidence in Mr Moyo. The company is optimistic that it will be
successful on appeal and that another Court will come to a different
conclusion.
"Until then, the business continues as usual under the
stewardship of the highly experienced Iain Williamson as interim CEO, supported
by a competent and focused leadership team," said the company
Moyo joined the company in June 2017 as chief executive of
Old Mutual Emerging Markets and was later appointed company's group CEO.
Sowetan
0 comments:
Post a Comment