I'll start near the end; Here is the penultimate chapter in this sorry saga of greed, ego, arrogance and hubris of men (yes they're all men). This notice appeared in the Public Gazette.
Yes you read it right. This company (#TTBT) could not pay its own lawyers and so ended up here
Yes you read it right. This company (#TTBT) could not pay its own lawyers and so ended up here
But it started with noble intentions, hard work, dedication and sacrifice by public spirited men (yes men can be public spirited too). In the early 1990s a group of men - mainly doctors set up a charity called SVBT (Sri Venkateswara Balaji Temple) and raised money.
They found a plot of waste land in Tividale, in the district of Sandwell and bought it for 100,000 pounds. The then #BlackCountryDevelopmentCorpration found in SVBT the ideal buyer bec a Temple fitted nicely with their master plan for the whole area. The local community objected
But BCDC - a body set up by Parliament, overruled all objections and sold the 13.5 acre site to SVBT to build a Temple. Not an easy task. The trustees faced moutainous
hurdles. But around the Millennium their luck turned.
hurdles. But around the Millennium their luck turned.
The Millennium Commission - itself funded by proceeds from the National Lottery agreed to put up 50% of the 7 million cost of the project. But even 3.5 million is a large sum for volunteers to raise. Desperate, the Trustees turned to Big Name NRI businessmen in London.
The Hindujas got involved , they brought in others and soon a couple of London businessmen were foisted on the Board of Trustees. They offered personal guarantees of money but only if local volunteer efforts to raise the cash failed.
The first thing these businessmen did was to set up a limited company (TTBT) that would, once the temple was built, take over the running of it from SVBT and to this effect a legal agreement was signed.
To cut a long story short, the Temple WAS built w/o the need to call on the guarantors. That was when TROUBLE erupted. TTBT spurred on by its directors wanted SVBT to wind itself up and hand over the finished Temple to the Company. Volunteers protested. Many a bun fight ensued.
TTBT went to Court to enforce the agreement. The directors of TTBT tried to disrupt the running of the temple by claiming that the trust - SVBT - was defunct and that they were the rightful owners of the Temple.
The Court case dragged on.
The Court case dragged on.
A fresh team of SVBT trustees were elected to run the Temple and to resist a TTBT take-opver. TTBT directors (mainly a prominent doctor, and a wealthy NRI hotelier and businessman) ran up a huge legal bill with their legal firm #StewartsLaw
TTBT lost their case in court and SVBT were awarded costs. But of Course TTBT was a dormant company with little by way of net assets. Meanwhile Stewarts Law was pursuing TTBT for its unpaid bills amounting to more than 400,000 pounds.
That is how it came to pass that StewarsLaw took TTBT to insolvency court.
Latest Breaking News: The Court granted the application by the petitioner, Stewarts Law that TTBT - Tividale Tirupati Balaji Temple Company No. 03714692 be declared insolvent.
What is unclear is whether the Temple - see website will have to pay up to meet the debts of a company that it volunatarily setup with the best of intentions but that got hijacked by businessmen with their own agenda. venkateswara.org.uk
What remains unclear is how a firm like Stewarts law ran up such a huge bill with out realising that TTBT could not pay. They were appointed by TTBT directors but did they not do a due diligence check on the Company? Why did they not seek personal guarantees from the directors?
Why did they not present an invoice for their services at an early stage and seek payment before the bill grew quite so large? It would be a travesty if TTBT directors walk away scot-free and if the Temple had to settle their bill.
END of story
END of story
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