TOP LAWYER UP FOR FRAUD
A LAWYER from Matizanadzo and Warhurst Legal Practitioners was taken to court yesterday charged with fraud involving US$200 000.
The suspect, Ryan Baglow was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Judith Taruvinga who released him on $50 000 bail.
The complainant in the matter is Lake Fisheries, a duly registered company domiciled in Kariba and being represented by one of its directors, David Edwin Webster.
The company is into kapenta fishing. Allegations are that in 2007, Webster and his partner the late Thomas Campbell Miller formed their company named Stenplay Investments which purchased the entire issued share capital in companies called Lake Fresh Fishers, Kariba Sardines and Sea farmers from Peter Oscar Marchussen.
Lake Fresh Fisheries has stand numbers 473-566 Kariba Township as its sole properties. There was a point where the two discussed about the fate of their shareholding in Stenplay Investments after its failure in business due to its financial inability and decided to dispose its two properties being stands under 473 and 566 Kariba township held under deed of transfer number 4212/84 and the two wanted to raise money to fund Lake Fresh fisheries and its associated companies capital and operational needs. Thomas Campbell Miller then expressed interest in purchasing the two stands for his company called Fairwinds Farming Pvt Limited and he approached his legal practitioner Baglow for legal advice who is known to the complainant as Ryan Stewart.
It is alleged that Baglow fraudulently appointed a lawyer called Ryan Baglow to represent Lake Fresh Fisheries in the sale of its two stands knowing that he was the one using both names.
Acting on the misrepresentation Webster signed a resolution authorising Baglow to sell the two stands on their behalf and he subsequently sold the two stands to Campbell at an agreed purchase price of US$200000 and was instructed to deposit US$40 000 to Matizanadzo and Warhurst Law Firm’s trust accounts and US$160 000 into Lake Fresh Fisheries’ nominated account.
An agreement of sale of the two stands was drafted between Lake Fresh Fisheries and Fairwinds Farming while Baglow represented the seller.
Instead, Baglow failed to account for the proceeds of the sale of the two stands or accounted for it incorrectly causing a financial prejudice to the complainant.
Baglow later facilitated the transfer of the two stands from Lake Fresh Fisheries name into Fairwinds name.
Campbell later passed on leaving Webster as the only director of Stenplay who later realised that he had been duped by Baglow and made a police report.
Investigations established that Baglow was using both names Ryan Baglow and Ryan Stewart with the later having no record at the office of the Registrar General.
Baglow’s misrepresentation to the complainant that he was appointing a different person to represent them in the sale of the two stands caused the complainant to sign a resolution granting him authority to sale the property on their behalf and resultantly caused a total financial prejudice of US$200000 to the complainant and nothing was recovered.