CC Image courtesy of bloomsberries on Flickr
John Holdsworth says he will relaunch AppChat following his “inevitable” win in his ongoing legal battle against Reunert, despite having been forced to file for liquidation.
He told HumanIPO Reunert had “crossed a red line” with its strategy, aiming to prevent the mobile network from launching.
“Once I have won this case and I inevitably will, I will relaunch AppChat and South Africa will get the mobile network that it deserves,” he said.
“Reunert’s only prospect of victory is to drag matters out in the hope that I fail to stay the course and run out of money – that won’t happen.”
Holdsworth also revealed he has laid criminal charges against Reunert and its legal representative Chris Edeling for allegedly infiltrating voluntary liquidation proceedings of a company owned by former ECN employees and lodging a “fraudulent” claim while allegedly falsely posing as a creditor – all in order to obtain information to support a contempt of court claim against Holdsworth.
According to Holdsworth, Reunert has throughout depended on its financial might to try and force him to give up on launching AppChat. Having failed to deter him through financial means (ie. through extensive litigation), Holdsworth believes Reunert decided to turn to a more aggressive strategy.
This, he said, culminated in the behaviour leading to the criminal charges, as well as Reunert’s reportedly 1,000-page contempt of court application against Holdsworth.
“I am not complaining, you have to play to your strengths and Reunert’s is clearly financial… However this strategy took on a whole new meaning, when I won leave to appeal from the Supreme Court of Appeal. After four successive defeats in the high court, I think they thought I was dead and buried,” he said.
“At that point the gloves came off and they crossed a red line.
“They caused me, my wife, my business associates and the former ECN employee’s unnecessary and invasive interrogation and brutally published our bank statements in a public document. They even subpoenaed my son who they knew was recovering from successive operations to have a brain tumor removed.”
