It is just another Eric Watson fraud, designed to hamper recovery of GBP129 million damages due following an earlier fraud, Sir Owen Glenn alleges.
After nearly a decade attempting fruitlessly to recover his money following an investment fraud orchestrated by Watson, Glenn now alleges Watson and his associates have created a bogus US claim against his investment company Kea Investments seeking to extort USD136.2 million.
Glenn claims the conspiracy was hatched in a UK prison where Watson was briefly imprisoned in late 2020 for contempt of court after his failure to disclose assets.
The High Court was told Kea Investments is embroiled in US litigation with a Kentucky court ordering payment of USD136.2 million for breach of a ‘Coal Funding and JV Investment Agreement’ dated October 2012. Eric Watson’s signature appears as witness to the agreement between NZ-based company Wikeley Family Trustee Ltd and Kea. Kea says the contract is bogus. It says it never signed any such agreement, never received notice of the intended Kentucky court action where judgment was entered against by default and claims the whole arrangement is an attempt either to wind up Kea or to extort money from the company.
Kea’s application to reopen the Kentucky case was unsuccessful. Notice of the court proceedings was properly served on Kea, the US court ruled. Kea says notice was served on its British Virgin Island’s agent but not passed on.
Adding to Kea Investments’s woes are activity by a Rizwan Hussain who Kea says had Kea’s genuine directors removed from the record, replaced by so-called ‘protective directors’ who then supposedly agreed to settlement of the Kentucky court case at a price of USD100 million. Kea says Watson and Hussain met in prison and that Hussain has a UK track record of using fraudulent schemes to hijack companies. In 2022, the English High Court described Hussain’s manipulation of Kea directorships as being a legal absurdity and ruled his actions were abusive proceedings conducted for the benefit of Eric Watson. These proceedings included legal action by Kea initiated by the ‘protective directors’ against both Sir Owen Glenn and lawyers who acted for him in the earlier litigation where Watson was held liable for fraud.
In the New Zealand courts, Kea sued to block enforcement of the disputed Kentucky court judgment. As the successful Kentucky litigant, Wikeley Family Trustee is chasing funds in the US held by Kea. It said the New Zealand courts have no jurisdiction. This is a dispute in the US courts.
Justice Gault said Wikely Family Trustee Ltd is a New Zealand registered company and New Zealand courts have jurisdiction. Kenneth David Wikeley controls Wikeley Family Trustee. He lives in Queensland. Temporary orders were imposed to stop enforcement of the Kentucky court judgment.
It is back to court later to decide on validity of the disputed 2012 Coal Funding agreement.
Kea Investments Ltd v. Wikeley Family Trustee Ltd – High Court (10.03.23)
23.029