Co-founder of African banking conglomerate Atlas Mara Ltd., Ashish Thakkar who has been in a soup with his divorce case recently lost a ruling over the ownership of his assets, in London. Judge Philip Moor, following testimonies from his family members found him guilty of lying. Calling it "palpable nonsense", he ruled that Thakkar owned 100 per cent of Mara Group Holdings Ltd. along with other companies. A self-acclaimed follower of "Guru" Morari Bapu, Ashish is known to openly endorse his teachings of truth and compassion. A believer of "karma- what goes around comes around", he has always preached 'honesty' as one of the keys to build a successful business. A pragmatic guess is, all those words taste like glass to him now.
After a series of evidences and oral testimonies from Ashish, his former wife Meera Thakkar, father Jagdish, and sister Ahuti, Judge Moor effectively construed that Ashish, Jagdish, and Ahuti had lied to the court. Ashish Thakkar declined holding any control over his businesses, claiming that his father, mother Sarla, and sister were beneficiaries of his companies. However, carefully underlining the facts, Judge Moor derived that Ashish, without any doubt, owned the entirety of his corporates. "I regret to say that I consider the whole thing to be palpable nonsense and simply manufactured for this case to attempt to explain why Ashish was listed as a first beneficiary in the Regulations. It follows that I find I have been repeatedly lied to by all three Respondent Thakkar witnesses, which has extremely serious consequences for the rest of their evidence," said Judge Moor.
While Sarla Thakkar refrained from giving any oral testimony citing health issues, the Judge said she "could have filed a statement and then applied for it". He concluded saying, "On the balance of probabilities, I find that she did not attend as she was not preparing to lie to this court. That is to her credit that she has still instructed her lawyers to fight this case on the basis that the interest was held for Ahuti." Calling Jagdish a very "unsatisfactory witness", Moor said, "I find that these falsehoods explain Jagdish's dreadful presentation as a witness. He was simply uncomfortable lying. "
35 year old Ashish has been surrounded with divorce-related woes, as his wife claimed him to be far richer than what he accounts for. While Ashish maintained that his assets were only worth, £445,532, his travel journalist former partner refused to accept it and fought for it in court. Seemingly miffed with Ashish's way of turning the case, Moor called him a very "charismatic and engaging character."
"He exudes charm and enthusiasm. He clearly knows Mara's business backwards. I am quite clear that he decides Mara's direction of travel. He will take the decision to buy a business or diversify into another area. He is the entrepreneur and the money maker. I accept that this also means that he could lose money, but that is an occupational hazard for such businesses."
The Thakkars are one of the many families to be expelled from Uganda in 1972, by then dictator Idi Amin. Ashish was born in Leicester in 1981, after which the family returned to Africa, Rwanda, where they yet again lost their everything in the 1994 genocide. Ashish dropped school at the age of 15, when he realised his interest in commerce. He soon received a start up money of $5000 from his father, and began flying to Dubai, where he bought cheaper products and sold them in a tiny shop in central Kampala.
"In 1996, he founded his first company, an IT business in Uganda called RAPS (U) Ltd. The initials were those of various family members, namely Rona, Ahuti, Prateen (his birth name) and Sarla. A number of other companies were later formed, including Riley Packaging (U) Ltd, which manufactured cardboard boxes. Although they started in a small way, the businesses grew rapidly to become a very successful African based conglomerate." The court added, "It is clear that the two main trading businesses run at the time by Ashish went into the new structure. These were Riley Packaging, owned as to 25% by Ashish and 25% by Jagdish and RAPS Uganda Ltd (the sale of technology and related products). There is no doubt that Jagdish's business, Exim did not go into Mara. Ahuti's interests in Trio and Computerworld did not go in either. It does equally appear that Ashish's 49% interest in RAPS Middle East, an administrative business, also did not go in. It is unclear what happened to three other businesses, namely Kensington Real Estate LLC (a real estate brokerage in Dubai), Kensington Africa (Uganda) and Kensington Global Investors Ltd."
Ashish established the banking venture- Atlas Mara, along with former Barclays Plc head Bob Diamond, after the two got acquainted at a World Economic Forum conference in 2013. The company managed to raise millions of dollars from investors through share offerings.
Citing the ruling, the court said, "If I needed any support for the proposition that Sarla and Ahuti hold the shares as nominees/bare trustees, I find it in Jagdish and Ahuti's own evidence. Both said that the shares were split 'between the two households' meaning one half for Ahuti and her daughter whilst the other half was for Sarla, Jagdish and Ashish."
When asked "Ahuti if she was saying that was one-half for the two separate parts of the family and she said that was correct. She added that her half would be for her and her daughter. The other half would be for her mother and father. She was asked if this included Ashish and she said that would depend on her mother. I do not want to be unfair to her but she was essentially confirming this was a trust arrangement, just a different one to the one alleged by Meera. I reject Ahuti and Jagdish's evidence as to this but I find that, in reality, they do not remotely think that the legal title is the end of the matter. "
Ashish and Meera married in 2008, and separated in 2013. Ashish already suffered a setback in July last year, after Justice Moor ruled that the two should not finalise a divorce until decisions were made on how much Meera should get. She claims he is the beneficiary of a complex series of companies held offshore. Surprisingly one of the many reasons, their court battle came to light was £160,000 ticket on Richard Branson's futuristic first commercial flight into space, Virgin Galactic. Thakkar was among the those to sign up first. Full amount of the tickets are already paid, but are fully refundable up until the date of the flight.
