All rights and copyright reserved to the Caterham F1 Team, Glenn Dunbar and LAT Photography ©
The war of words between Tony Fernandes and the investment company that tried to buy Caterham continues as the chances of the team making the US Grand Prix next week look increasingly slim.
In an exchange of statements between the two sides ended with Engavest, the group of Swiss and Middle Eastern investors who have been running the team since the end of June, expressing “total contempt” of Fernandes.
Meanwhile, the team seems no closer to a deal with the administrators of Caterham Sports Limited (CSL) to release the cars from its factory in order to go racing in Austin next weekend. In an interview with the media today, Caterham Team Boss Colin Kolles stated the following about the situation:-
‘We have everything prepared to go to Austin. But if the administrators do not change their minds, it’s difficult.’
Meanwhile, the debate over who owns the team continues. Engavest claims Fernandes did not transfer the shares after the sale was agreed, but Fernandes claims a condition of the sale to pay off creditors was not met. On Thursday night, Engavest released a blunt statement, which also addressed the mysterious Constantin Cojocar, who Fernandes’ side claims was promoted from cleaner to director of CSL in a short period of time.
Engavest’s statement to the media is as follows:-
‘Engavest SA, strongly refutes the allegations of Tony Fernandes and Caterham Group CEO Graham Macdonald regarding its conduct while trying to purchase Caterham F1. Our statement of earlier today still stands. Every single condition precedent of the Sales and Purchase Agreement for which Engavest was responsible has been met. Only the seller, which includes Mr Fernandes, failed to meet his obligations. All salaries have been paid.
‘Engavest sold CSL. It did not appoint Mr Cojocar who, we believe, was a former top footballer for Steaua Bucarest during the 1980s. The claims of Mr Fernandes and Mr Macdonald contradict their own press statement dated 03 October 2014
“’Caterham Group wishes to clarify that, following the sale of the F1 business in July, it has no affiliation with Caterham F1 Team’.
‘That one sentence alone contains two errors:
‘1, the date was June 29. 2, having failed to transfer the shares Caterham Group and Mr Fernandes wholly owned Caterham F1 at the time of the statement, as they do today.
‘Incidents such as a Caterham Group representative forcibly breaking into a filing cabinet containing our private and confidential documents and the continued refusal to deal with the outstanding loan of Exim Bank and complete the agreement has culminated in Engavest’s total comtempt of Mr Fernandes and his Group executives with whom we entered a deal in good faith.’
At the moment, the situation in regards to the ownership of the Caterham F1 Team is just a difficult and complex situation that they do not need right now. With the situation firmly under the spotlight, questions are being raised as to why this situation was not dealt with using the correct and proper channels when the team acquired new ownership and also why the new ownership was officially announced if they knew the situation behind the scenes wasn’t fully closed legally.
But even though questions are being raised, it is clear that there is more to the situation than we realise and the team, the new and ex owners alongside other parties who are affected by the situation need to use the correct legal channels and sort this out as quickly as possible and get back to racing once again. However, I do feel that the team may not attend the United States Grand Prix next weekend and they ultimately have to concentrate on staying in business.
But I fear that this is only the beginning and more light on the situation will be disclosed as time goes on and I truly feel sorry for everybody who works for the team who could lose their livelihoods depending on how the matter is resolved. And I hope that the matter is resolved for them as fast as possible and also for the Caterham team’s current and distant future in the sport too.
