Allegations of financial wrongdoing are flying between the directors, founders and former CEO of Africa's largest Islamic TV station, in what is claimed by some of the parties to be a back-door battle for control.
These include claims that hundreds of thousands of rands were used for a family wedding and the legal fees of its provisionally sequestrated founder.
ITV, which is hosted by DStv, is viewed in 66 countries across Africa and Asia.
One of its directors, Zahier Ragie, launched an application in the Johannesburg high court in July to have ITV placed under business rescue.
The application is against its founder and now ex-director, Dr Mohamed Adam; his wife, Marie Adam (who resigned her ITV directorship in July), their son Mohamed Yaseen Adam, who is ITV's chair; and eight companies the family founded and have shares in.
Dr Mohamed Adam, who was provisionally sequestrated in September 2019, claims his family invested nearly R100m to develop the station. Adam resigned his directorship in February.
Among the eight companies cited is the family's embattled Louis Pasteur Hospital Holdings (LPHH), which Bonitas Medical Aid successfully sued in the Pretoria high court in 2016 for R88m.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Adam's appeal against that court ruling.
LPHH has been under business rescue since June 2018, according to its business rescue practitioner, Etienne Naude.
The latest legal battle has seen allegations of financial irregularity levelled against Adam.
In his affidavit, Ragie accuses Adam of:
- Illegally using ITV funds to pay R600,000 to a company Adam was a director of in an allegedly questionable property lease deal;
- Falsely claiming R1.8m in remuneration for services rendered; and
- Illegally taking more than R500,000 from the station to pay for his daughter's wedding and finance his legal defence in court cases unrelated to ITV's operations.
"Dr Adam utilises his close family ties to conduct the business of ITV as his own personal fiefdom, disregarding his own fiduciary duties," Ragie states in the affidavit.
"Dr Adam utilises members of ITV, who are all entities related and controlled by Dr Adam, Miriam Adam and Mohamed Yaseen Adam, to enable him to derive benefit directly and indirectly from ITV without justification."
Adam told the Sunday Times the application is a "hostile takeover" driven by ITV's former CEO, Farhad Omar, who resigned in July amid allegations of misconduct.
Omar, who denied this, told the Sunday Times: "ITV owes me a salary for three months as part of the settlement of my resignation. Adam is trying to divert from the issues of the allegations against him."
The Sunday Times has seen a copy of Omar's Council for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) settlement agreement, which states that ITV will not pursue disciplinary action against him in return for him withdrawing the complaint he had lodged against ITV at the CCMA in regards to his suspension in February
ITV's lawyer, Morné Coetzee, said the business rescue application was instituted "for ulterior motivations and in an attempt to, among other things, scupper our client's contractual relationship with DStv".
Adam said there was no evidence to support the allegations in Ragie's affidavit. He said he had received funds, "but they were duly authorised".
"All payments in this regard were made by Omar, who at the time was the CEO and had complete control of all the finances of ITV."
Adam said the allegations were brought by Omar to prevent him from being fired.
Questioning the timing of the business rescue application, Adam said: "At no stage prior to January did either Ragie or Omar raise any concerns over these payments.
"Only when the issue of suspicion of his commissions was raised did Omar react."
On his sequestration, he said his lawyers were challenging the application.
"It's sub judice," he said.
His son, Mohamed Yaseen Adam, said in an e-mail that he would oppose the application. "This application is to gain control of ITV. I will do whatever it takes to protect ITV," he said.
On why he resigned, Omar said disputes with the board made it difficult for him to steer the organisation. He said unwillingness by certain board members to resolve governance issues helped him to decide to resign.
Omar, too, said ITV was an institution "that needs to be protected".
DStv spokesperson Benedict Maaga failed to respond to requests for comment.
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