Movie mogul Anant Singh is trying to recover R1-million from a dead man.
Singh - who says he is on the brink of building a R7.5-billion film city in Durban - has gone to court to recover legal fees after a protracted legal battle with late businessman Sunny Gayadin over the old Natal Command site, once used by the military.Singh negotiated a deal to buy the land from the city for R15-million in 2003. However, his plans were thrown into disarray when Gayadin challenged the purchase agreement with court action that ended with Singh winning the battle in the Constitutional Court in 2012.
Gayadin died in May. His body was found with a gunshot wound to the head on land he was developing for the Victoria Country Club in Pietermaritzburg.
Singh has been informed by those administering Gayadin's financial affairs - including his ex-wife, who was a partner with him in the close corporation Giant Concerts - that he must recoup his money from a consortium of attorneys who funded the marathon court battle over the site.
But Singh wants this claim interrogated at a hearing at which those involved - including some prominent attorneys - will be called to testify.
Documents that came before the High Court in Durban last week, in an application launched by Singh's Rinaldo Investments to place Giant Concerts in compulsory liquidation, show that the dispute over the legal fees began years ago. In an affidavit, Rinaldo director Sudhir Pragjee said the costs claimed were approved by the courts in 2013 and 2014.
The costs include R360,000 for the initial case in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, R403,000 for the appeal before the Supreme Court of Appeal, and almost R300,000 for the final Constitutional Court challenge.Rumila Gayadin claimed in court papers that her former husband had told her he did not have the money to go to court and that the litigation was being funded by a consortium of attorneys.
Said Pragjee: "It is our intention to hold such an interrogation to establish how Giant Concerts was able to fund all the litigation and what happened to the assets it had."
The Master of the High Court has been directed to convene the inquiry.
Singh is eager to break ground at the site, but the producer of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom has to wait until the land is transferred.
The Department of Defence told the Sunday Times the site was still under the custodianship of the Department of Public Works.
"The site was handed over to the city in 2009. However, the appropriate disposal procedures were not followed. The disposal of Battery Beach by the Department of Defence is therefore not authorised and could not be executed by public works," said defence spokesman Brigadier General Mafi Mgobozi.
Singh said he was "very concerned and surprised" by the statement.
"It seems that the Department of Defence does not appreciate the economic impact that the project will have on the city," said Singh...