Horseracing boss fighting for ‘financial wellbeing’

● National Horseracing Authority (NHRA) CEO Lyndon Barends says he’s taken leave to fight for his financial wellbeing after being provisionally liquidated.

The regulator put out a statement early this week saying Barends would be away from the office “for personal reasons” until September 25.

That’s when he and his wife, who are married in community of property, must return to the Western Cape High Court to show why their “joint estate should not be placed under final sequestration”.

Barends told the Sunday Times he was confident the matter would be resolved before the deadline.

“I have cooperated fully with the banks and attorneys,” he said in an e-mail. “I’ve also informed and engaged the NHRA board on this matter. I remain committed to the tasks they have entrusted me with.”

He said he had been blindsided by a default judgment of about R3m by Absa early this year against the house he and his wife own in Gordon’s Bay near Cape Town.

Then came the sequestration bid by FirstRand Bank, which had provided a R2.97m mortgage on the property. FirstRand said in court papers Barends was behind on bond repayments by nearly 27 months and owed R3.54m.

“I fell into arrears with payments because of entrepreneurial ventures during 2014 and 2016 which required substantial capital input,” Barends said in court papers, which include a document listing his annual package at NHRA at nearly R2.4m as at August 2016.

Barends disputed the debt to Absa, which allegedly rose from three properties his property investment company had owned, but were repossessed and sold at auction well below their purchase prices in 2011.

Barends told Sunday Times in 2007 he had been a director of an IT company which went into default, requiring him to invest a further R6m of his own money.

He said he defended the Absa action at the time and added there was no proper reconciliation. He believed the matter had been dealt with.

In court papers, Barends argued the FirstRand bond should be written off because it amounted to “reckless lending”.

NHRA chairman Ken Truter said the board would “consider the position of Mr Barends when the application is concluded”.