Case No. ZC14D01201

11.Jagdish was born in Uganda on 27th April 1948 so he is aged 68. His family had moved to that country in the 1890s. Sarla was born on 12th September 1952 so she is aged 64. They married on 21st November 1971. In 1972, they were forced to flee Uganda by Idi Amin with nothing. They came to the UK and both started working in factories here before running their own market stalls selling clothes. By 1993, they owned a couple of retail shops.12.Their eldest daughter, Rona was born on 26th October 1972 so she is now aged 44. Ahuti was born on 17th May 1975, so she is aged 41. In 1979, the family moved briefly to Kenya and then onto Rwanda but, unfortunately, Jagdish had two heart attacks. 13.Ashish was born on 5th August 1981 and given the birth name, Prateen. He changed his name subsequently to Ashish. He is therefore now aged 35. He is a highly successful businessman. Meera was born on 27th March 1983 and is therefore aged 33. She is a journalist/author, now specialising in the field of cookery. I am told she is soon to publish a book on the subject. 14.In 1984, the Thakkar family returned to England. Jagdish started a women’s fashionwear business, again initially run from market stalls. The lure of Africa, however, proved strong. In 1993, the family returned to Rwanda and set up a small trading business, getting their stock from Dubai. It appears to have been very successful but, tragically, within months, the Rwandan genocide took place in 1994. I have no doubt that this period was extremely traumatic for everyone involved. They managed to escape but at a heavy cost both emotionally and financially. For the second time, the family lost everything. They moved to Kenya and then Uganda. Bravely, Jagdish commenced a business supplying fuel to Rwanda before starting a retail business in Uganda buying local goods and selling them through Exim (U) Ltd. Soon, the business started to import goods from Dubai.15.Ashish left school at the age of 15 having shown a real aptitude for commerce. In particular, he was importing and selling computers, including one to his Headmaster. The family, with some reservations, agreed to set him up in business and the sum of $5,000 was provided as seed-corn capital from various sources. 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.16.On 20th February 2008, the RBH Global Foundation (Panama) (hereafter RBH) was established. In due course, its main asset became Inspire Corporation SA (hereafter Inspire Panama) which was incorporated in Panama on 12th March 2008. Slightly unusually for the late 2000s, Inspire Panama issued bearer shares to the value of $10,000 on 20th March 2008. The bearer shares appear to have been held by Fitrust in Switzerland via an entity known as Noman Ltd (BVI), a nominee company owned by Fitrust. This structure eventually held all the issued shares in Mara Group Holdings Ltd (Mara BVI), which was incorporated in the BVI on 19th April 2010. Inspire owned all 50,000 shares. 17.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. One possibility, not canvassed in argument, is that any business established in Dubai as an LLC could not go into the new structure due to the need for a local 51% shareholder. In any event, it is clear that Ashish’s two main businesses did go in and nothing else went in initially. Moreover, his subsequent entrepreneurial activity was undoubtedly conducted via Mara in its broadest sense. I was shown an organogram showing the up to date position. The structure is exceptionally complicated with around sixty different entities. There are numerous different levels of company split between holding companies and subsidiaries. 18.There is no doubt that Ashish was the founder of the Mara Group and is its public face. The issue is whether or not he is the beneficial owner. A prospectus sent out to potential investors in another business, Atlas Mara, that he started in 2013, with Bob Diamond the former CEO of Barclays Bank said this:- “