Ram Ottapathu: Embattled Choppies founder reckons he’ll be proven right

Ram Ottapathu, founder of Botswana's leading retailer Choppies, has been under heavy attack of late after a forensic and legal audit into the JSE-listed company accused him of malfeasance. But Ottapathu admits that although governance was slack, no money is missing and no fraud was committed. He intends setting the record straight and getting the suspension of the shares lifted soon after the EGM called for 4 September. Apologies for the poor sound quality. – Alec Hogg.Ram Ottapathu said Choppies had a lot of issues in the development and performance of the company and he and his board did not have the same vision for taking the company forward. He said he believed that if a company took collective responsibility, you could say that only the CEO was responsible. Ottapathu said he took most of the blame, but said investors should wait for the EGM to find out whether the forensic investigation has any merit. He said "there was no fraud or misappropriation" and that he believed that some of the reports on Choppies were questionable and not completely legal. He said some of them would be completely reversed..Referring to the forensic report, Ottapathu said it was "prepared by board members and staff"; it was not a legal report and it is questionable. He said he read it three times and it is inconclusive. It will be challenged and he believed it would be set aside "straight away. He said he answered every point on the legal report. He described it as a storm in a teacup..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Ottapathu admitted that Choppies had some governance issues, that account basics were not taken into account but believed it was due to the fast growth of the company. Governance may not have been attended to as formal businesses would like to have seen it. The company had grown five-fold in four years. He re-iterated that he could comfortably say about the management of Choppies that there was no fraud in the company, "no money was stolen"..He said he could not comment on whether Choppies, that had 92 stores in South Africa, would stay or leave the country. He says it was a board decision. The next step would be the finalisation and publication of results and Ottapathu said he was hoping for a proper legal review. He expressed the hope that after the 4th of September EGM, "everything will be back to normal." What he wanted to do was to ensure that Choppies "gets back to glory in the next 18 to 24 months." "It will be quickly for Choppies to settle back to normal.".Attapathu said he wanted shareholders to get a balanced view, at the moment it is only the view of the "so-called" experts. He described it as a non-issue. "A storm in a teacup."

Ram Ottapathu: Embattled Choppies founder reckons he’ll be proven right

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