Automated Summary
Key Facts
Platcorp Holdings Limited sought urgent variation of court orders to have FNB transfer M48.5 million from the 1st respondent's account to Standard Lesotho Bank. The 1st respondent (Platinum Credit Limited) refused cooperation, claiming its board had sole authority over banking decisions and alleging the Standard Lesotho Bank account was under investigation. FNB notified termination of its banking relationship with the 1st respondent on November 4, 2022, requiring an alternative bank nomination. The applicant could not access the 1st respondent's Post Bank account. The court granted variation as the original orders were interlocutory and the supervening event (FNB termination) necessitated practical adjustments.
Issues
- The court determined whether to vary interlocutory orders restoring the status quo between the applicant and 1st respondent. The orders originally required FNB to preserve funds and restrict their use, but FNB's termination of the banking relationship necessitated substituting the account with Standard Lesotho Bank. The 1st respondent resisted, claiming the board's sole authority over banking decisions, but the court allowed the variation due to changed factual circumstances.
- The court considered the 1st respondent's procedural objections, including the non-joinder of the Central Bank and the lack of urgency in the application. The applicant argued that the Central Bank has no direct interest in the matter, and the urgency was justified due to the impending termination of the 1st respondent's FNB account.
Holdings
- The court found the application was urgent because FNB's termination of the 1st respondent's banking relationship required immediate action to prevent the 1st respondent from accessing funds in cash, which would undermine prior court orders.
- The court granted the application to vary the interlocutory orders, substituting FNB with Standard Lesotho Bank as the alternative banker due to the termination of the 1st respondent's relationship with FNB. The court found the variation necessary to maintain the status quo and prevent circumvention of prior orders.
- The court rejected the 1st respondent's points in limine, including non-joinder of the Central Bank, determining that the Central Bank had no direct or substantial interest in the outcome of the variation application.
Remedies
The application is granted as prayed with costs, which should include costs consequent upon employment of a Senior Counsel.
Legal Principles
The court applied the principle that interlocutory orders can be varied when the factual basis for the original order changes. This is grounded in the nature of interlocutory orders, which are not final and remain subject to modification based on new circumstances. The decision cites Firestone SA (Pty) Ltd v Gentiruco A.G and Zondi v MEC to support this approach, emphasizing that such orders are open to reconsideration on good cause shown.
Precedent Name
- Amalgamated Engineering Union v Minister of Labour
- Transnet Ltd v Rubenstein
- Commissioner SARS v Hawker Air Services
- Vice-Chancellor of the National University of Lesotho v Putsoa LAC
- Zondi v MEC, Traditional and Local Government Affairs
- Firestone SA (Pty) Ltd v Gentiruco A.G
- BP Lesotho (Pty) Ltd v Moloi and Another
Judge Name
MOKHESI J
Passage Text
- In the result the following orders are made; (a) The application is granted as prayed with costs, which costs should include costs consequent upon employment of a Senior Counsel.
- The order which the applicant seeks to vary is merely interlocutory, as it restored the status quo ante pending final determination of the dispute between the parties. The current orders now being sought serve to vary the order which was originally given in light of the changed factual basis on which it was made.
- The 1st respondent refuses to cooperate in nominating the Standard Lesotho Bank as the alternative bank despite the fact that it already has a bank account there. Instead, it resists variation based on spurious and contrived grounds that its Standard Lesotho Bank account is a subject of Financial Intelligence Unit investigation for money laundering.