Harry Giannacopoulos, one of three brothers who have been feuding with Spar for years, has laid a fraud and perjury complaint at a Pietermaritzburg police station against two senior members of Spar and the former chair.
The complaint is almost identical to the dispute opened by his brother Chris Giannacopoulos at a Pretoria police station in December, but this one fingers the present Southern Africa CEO, Max Oliva, as allegedly making misstatements to a court.
The three brothers own 45 Spars, mainly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
This is the second such complaint relating to misrepresentations about their debt in court cases that took place in 2019.
Formal mediation processes are simultaneously taking place between the brothers, their advisers and Spar.
The brothers are in negotiations on a R2bn damages claim against Spar. It is highly unlikely they will get that much as SA courts typically do not award such high payouts for damages. Spar says it wants a fair outcome for the brothers and itself.
In the latest instance, which led to the criminal complaint, the brothers took out loans to the value of R171m in 2015 and 2016 to refurbish and renovate Spar stores. Unbeknown to them at the time, some of this debt was sold to WesBank. In October 2019, due to a dispute, the brothers were kicked out of the Spar membership guild, required for all its retailers, in a hearing they did not know about.
The next day, Spar went to court in Pretoria and Pietermaritzburg to argue that the brothers’ stores owed it money, and won control of their stores in lieu of repayment of debt. The court cases were conducted secretly.
Owed millions
The trio soon fought back and won control of their stores.
But in both court cases, as revealed in 2021 in another court case, the executives said Spar was owed millions when the debt had been sold to WesBank.
In December last year, brother Chris Giannacopoulos opened a complaint against former chair Graham O’Connor, former CEO Brett Botten and Desmond Borrageiro, MD of Spar South Rand, the biggest division, as well as two other senior executives, alleging they had misled the court and committed fraud and perjury.
The complaint opened on Tuesday relates to alleged misstatements made in the Pietermaritizburg high court on the same day. In it, Oliva is accused of perjury, while O’Connor and an HR executive are fingered as well.
In this case it is understood that some of the debt that was claimed to have been owed had been repaid. O’Connor is accused of fraud for allegedly misstating that this debt was still outstanding.
When Mike Bosman took over as chair of the Spar group from O’Connor in January, he said he intended to make peace with the Giannacopoulos brothers after years of disputes.
Bosman said the complaints were the same as ones made in Pretoria last year. “There’s no real surprise,” he said.
“Of course, it’s never good for us to have any kind of charges laid against our executives or past executives. It’s a difficult scenario for everyone. But we were expecting it.
“I don’t feel disillusioned about what’s happening [regarding the charges], because I’m committed to working with them to find a resolution, sooner rather than later.”
Find resolution
Spar made media headlines due to conflict with the brothers as well as a group of unhappy BEE retailers and concerns about how much O’Connor’s personal businesses benefited from Spar. This led to leadership changes at the retailer announced late last year. O’Connor stepped down as chair, with CEO Brett Botten also resigning in January.
Bosman, who is also acting CEO, said progress is being made to end the long battles with the brothers that have gone on for years. An informal meeting between him and the brothers on Tuesday last week was extremely constructive, he said.
“I flew [to Durban] and drove to Richards Bay to meet them. And I spent the whole afternoon with them just to understand their situation and to put Spar’s point of view to them.”
The discussions were “exceptionally helpful” for Spar and the brothers, he said.
Bosman said of the R2bn claim: “As I said before, as a board of Spar, we want a very fair outcome for them, ourselves and for our stakeholders.”
Giannacopoulus said that since the court cases, they lack access to credit with banks and suppliers. They want to be treated like all Spar retailers in having credit lines with suppliers that allow 30 days for payment, but suppliers will only sell to them if they pay cash up front.
Last year, Spar retailer Amaan Sayed also opened a criminal complaint against Spar executives in Midrand.
It is unclear if any of the complaints laid against Spar executives has been investigated.
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