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DRD obtains High Court approval for validation of RAWAS shares

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Published: Monday, 24 June 2002 02:00

An application by Durban Roodepoort Deep, Limited (DRD) to the South African High Court to validate the allotment and issue of 8 252 056 DRD ordinary shares has been successful.

The shares were issued invalidly to various creditors of Laverton Gold and its subsidiary, BT Barisan Tropical Mining, in July and October 1999, ostensibly in exchange for the Rawas gold mine in Indonesia, which ceased production in March 2000.

Judge T D Cloete granted the validation order in spite of an application for a postponement submitted by lawyers acting on behalf of DRD non-executive director Roger Kebble. The postponement was sought, pending an application by Mr Kebble for leave to intervene in the matter.

Mark Wellesley-Wood said, "I am pleased that this matter has been settled with regard to the company's position. All the matters which were being investigated with regard to irregular transactions have now been concluded. The Board will decide on July 23rd. whether it will take legal action for recovery of the Rawas loss against the parties responsible."

The court order to effect the validation has been lodged with the South African Registrar of Companies on Friday 21 June 2002.

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