Multinational company Tazetta, which extracts heavy sands in the province of Zambezia, has contested the appointment of Vasily Trubnikov as the company’s director-general, accusing the High Court of Appeal (TSR) in Maputo of violating the law by validating his appointment.
In a statement signed by the chairman of the board of directors, Alexander Gorlov, Tazetta considers ‘illegitimate’ the action that allowed Trubnikov to take office, based on a precautionary measure that, according to the company, was declared invalid by the Maputo City Court in May 2024.
The company accuses the TSR of reversing the expiry of the injunction in March 2025, allowing Vasily Trubnikov, accompanied by representatives and a bailiff, to appear at Tazetta’s headquarters in Quelimane on 6 May to try to take over the management of the company.
According to Tazetta, the intervention was based on a letter rogatory issued from Maputo, which, for the company, constitutes a violation of Article 83 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which establishes that companies must be sued where they have their headquarters or branch, in this case, in Zambezia.
Tazetta’s management recalls that the Maputo City Court had already ruled in August 2024 that Vasily Trubnikov had no standing to sue the company because he was not a direct partner. According to the company, Trubnikov holds indirect shares through shareholder structures in Hong Kong and Mauritius, which, in its view, does not give him the power to take on management positions.
Tazetta emphasises that, in January 2025, it held an extraordinary general meeting at which a new Board of Directors was validly appointed, of which Trubnikov is a member, but that, outside that body and acting alone, he has no legitimacy to run the company.
The mining company also rejects the decision of the Commercial Section of the Maputo City Court, which accepted a precautionary measure to seize a ship belonging to the company, arguing that this type of matter should be settled by a maritime court and not by a commercial court.
‘The violation of rules of jurisdiction observed in this case is unclear,’ says Tazetta, which, despite the criticism, reaffirms its confidence in the Mozambican justice system and believes that the rule of law will prevail, preventing Vasily Trubnikov from “illegitimately” taking over the management of the company.
