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Business Editor

SUSPENDED Choppies Enterprises chief executive officer, Mr Ramachandran Ottapathu, has denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to challenge his ouster in court.

Choppies has wider footprint in Zimbabwe where it employs nearly 2 000 workers and runs several outlets across the African continent.

Mr Ottapathu, who was suspended last month over accusations of financial discrepancies, has hit out at the company for criticising him in Stock Exchange News Services (Sens) announcements in Botswana and South Africa.

He was responding to a Sens announcement published by Choppies on Monday, which claimed his suspension was “valid and proper” and related to “an aggregation of activities and conduct” by him. 

The retail group has said it will in due course make known to shareholders why it suspended Mr Ottapathu. 

It said this will be done “once the various investigations referred to in previous announcements by the company are completed”. 

To date, and despite numerous requests from Mr Ottapathu’s legal representatives, Choppies has not provided any particular facts about the charges against him. 

“This is simple character assassination, which does not give me a chance to defend myself. I was suspended without notice and without a hearing,” said Mr Ottapathu.

“I deny the insinuations and allegations that I have done anything wrong. I have said repeatedly that I have not been involved in material wrongdoing or that I benefited financially from any of the transactions, which have now been under investigation since our shares were suspended almost a year ago.

“I am going to challenge my suspension in court at the soonest opportunity — as I do not believe it is justified or that it was done in a manner, which was valid or proper.”

Mr Ottapathu said he had also called on the board to convene an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders at which this issue will be raised and where he will propose that various changes be made to the board of directors in order to ensure that it properly represents the interests of shareholders. 

“The company criticises me for comments made in the media. Yet they use their access to Sens, which access is denied to me, to attack me,” he said.

The Botswana-listed giant retail firm has been embroiled in shareholder disputes since last year and has failed to release its financial results as required. 

Boardroom wars also saw the former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko’s family, which was instrumental in bringing Choppies into Zimbabwe, pull out from the group early this year.