The advertising partner for Western Province Rugby (WPR) has laid criminal charges against it, after directors and its chief executive failed to provide the liquidated company’s ‘statement of affairs’ to the Master of the High Court, as required by the Companies Act of 1973.

Aerios CEO, Costas Constantinou, said the failure constituted a criminal offence.

According to a Weekend Argus report, he confirmed he had been interviewed by the police and depending on the information that they gathered, might decide to refer the matter to higher prosecuting bodies. He said the directors of WPR, the commercial arm of the Western Province Rugby Union, were legally obliged to lodge a ‘statement of affairs’ with the Master of the High Court, within 12 months preceding the liquidation of the company and within 14 days after the winding up of the company, which was liquidated in December.

‘Despite 10 months having elapsed since the final liquidation order was granted, there’s been nothing filed and we have received nothing. I had to lay the criminal charges. It’s an unfortunate situation, now the directors of the company including Remgro will have to face the charges.’

Aerios said it was owed R217m. A valuation of WP Rugby (Pty) Ltd’s assets by auditors PwC, initiated by Remgro and WP Rugby, found its assets to be worth R8.5m. But Constantinou said intangible assets, including sponsorship deals, player contracts and advertising contracts, were not included in the valuation.

He said Aerios’ valuation set WP Rugby’s assets – including intangibles – at more than R150m.

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