Mining magnate Brett Kebble’s court action against former business partner Mzi Khumalo has been postponed at the request of Khumalo’s legal team, Kebble said in a statement on Friday.
Kebble’s legal team agreed to the postponement in pre-trial negotiations on condition that his claim against Khumalo would be increased by R10-million to R60-million rand.
This additional claim arose from certain admissions by Khumalo’s legal team at pre-trial hearings, Kebble said.
Although Kebble and Khumalo’s legal teams agreed that Kebble would accept the postponement in exchange for raising the amount of the claim, they could not agree on which party would pay costs.
The presiding judge decided that because Kebble’s claim for the additional R10-million was the most significant aspect of the postponement, Kebble would be liable for the costs.
In order to allow the increased claim, Kebble said he was willing to pay costs.
The claim dates back to 1998 when Khumalo was forced to resign from JCI amid accusations of mismanagement as well as conflicts of interest.
Kebble alleges that Khumalo never returned JCI shares loaned to him nor paid for them, while Khumalo has insisted that he had not acted wrongfully or unlawfully. – I-Net Bridge