The kindest thing that can be said of JSE-listed Internet gaming operation IGaming is that it is enigmatic.
So enigmatic, in fact, that spy writer John le Carre may wish to consider basing a novel on its labyrinthine international structure, its flamboyant personalities in luxury cars, and its apparent ability to generate billions without any overt activity.
To start with, the executive chairman of the online gaming establishment is a charming London solicitor rejoicing in the name Carlo Eugenio Pio Colombotti.
Colombotti is said to frequent Annabel's, the home-from-home of England's "Sloane Ranger" set. He has been associated with Raine Spencer, the stepmother of the late Princess Diana, and more recently with Valerie Campbell, the mother of fashion model Naomi.
As for his company, the Internet Gaming Company listed on the JSE Securities Exchange last August.
The most notable thing about the listing, apart from the absence of the public relations fanfare usually associated with small caps joining the venture capital board, was that there was no apparent reason for the company to do so.
At the time, the company said it was involved in the setup and off-shore sale of Internet gambling software and sites. Online gambling is not allowed in South Africa.
In its prospectus IGaming said it would apply for an Internet gaming licence, but it has not yet done so.
Management and business associates were allocated 74,1 million shares, but no issue price was disclosed in the prospectus. An additional 5,9 million shares were issued at R2,50 to settle company loan accounts, professional fees and to purchase proprietary software.
The share opened at R3,50 on listing day and closed slightly down. The very next day, IGaming was threatened with involuntary liquidation by the owner of a Cape Town mansion demanding rental payments.
The next month, IGaming issued a cautionary advising that it was being investigated by the JSE for irregular share trading. The share price had risen 74 percent in five weeks in volumes which never exceeded 160 000 shares a day.
Then IGaming released its interim results, described at the time as the information technology (IT) industry's "most laughable" results of the season. The report failed to mention details such as turnover, cash flow, earnings a share, and many other nominal accounting issues.
Last September the Financial Services Board (FSB) said its directorate would meet to decide on an investigation into IGaming. The FSB is still conducting its investigation.
After five months the company, which consisted of two offices containing a photocopier, a few desks, the odd computer and 24 staff, was worth R1 billion at the January share price of about R12.
At the rate it was going, IGaming did not merely buck the IT bear run, it was actually transmuting the bear into a bull.
Chief executive Stephen Lumb first seemed surprised when he was confronted with the amount of shares directors had traded this year.
Then he said directors always informed him when they traded, but such trades were not recent since IGaming was under a cautionary notice and directors were forbidden from trading.
When it was pointed out that trades took place after the cautionary was released in April, he had no answer.
Director Ken Metcalf had bought R100 325 worth of shares, Bill Gresty had bought R85 600 worth and Simon Schonfeldt had bought and sold more than R260 000 of shares, but netted just R13 215 in profit despite the stock's steady upward climb.
Lumb said directors had not dealt in their issued stock because they were locked in for up to five years.
IGaming's principal activity appeared to be the development and sale of over 1 000 websites.
According to staff, the sites were not marketed and the games were "pathetic and used very amateur software".
Tracking the buyers of the websites has proven almost impossible. One buyer was said to be Cybergaming.com plc, a company Business Report has failed to track down, despite thorough inquiries with the relevant authorities.
Lumb said Cybergaming.com was a holding company based in Belize and the owners of Cybergaming.com were the same as those who controlled IGaming. Another buyer, Vegas, was an offshore company allegedly not owned by Lumb, but whose ownership he had been ordered not to discuss.
Coincidentally, directors Colombotti, Lumb, Ali Gierden and Bill Cresty were also directors of Essential Beverages, a company that went belly up months after its listing on the JSE.
The link between a company that bottles water and whose subsidiaries and funders are based in Antigua, the British Virgin Islands and London, and another company that supposedly develops and operates online gambling sites with ties to Antigua, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Jersey and London, is not apparent.
Then there is Alan Santini, whom Lumb describes as his "personal assistant".
Santini was appointed corporate financial director in January at the tender age of 21.
Retrenched staff said Santini was rarely in the office, and when he was present he played Quake, an action computer game.
Lumb gave Santini a luxury Mercedes for his birthday but said this car had been funded out of his other companies.
Lumb, who also invested in Essential Beverages, added that he was wealthy in his own right. He said neither he nor Santini took salaries out of IGaming. Lumb's own S600 Mercedes, with the number plate GAMING GP, was also funded by himself, he said.
The next curious turn in the tale was IGaming's announcement in February that it wished to unbundle. It picked up ailing online motoring company Oxbridge in partnership with World Wide Patent & Design Consultants and an unnamed third party.
Two subsidiaries, Internet Lottery and Internet Bingo, were to be hived off into Oxbridge for reasons difficult to fathom. The JSE declined to approve either of these transactions.
Internet Bingo, Internet Gaming and The Internet Lottery were not listed in the prospectus, but conveniently came to light when IGaming needed subsidiaries that it could reverse into the listed cash shells of Oxbridge and Essential.
Other "group" companies handled by the present staff of 10 - but not named in the prospectus just 12 months ago - are TIGC Investments and TIGC Operations.
Other strange company names are those of the backers of IGaming: Global Investments, Global Online Investments, Internet Opportunities and Internet Start-Up Investments own more than 80 percent of the company between them.
A global search on companies came up blank on these names, suggesting that the backing companies did not exist
By February IGaming had announced a 10-for-one share split which would result in an ultimate market cap of R7,2 billion. It said at the time this deal would be subject to shareholder approval.
The controlling shareholders, it turned out, were the company's directors.
This deal also failed to get off the ground because the JSE demanded that IGaming use a sponsoring broker in structuring the split, a demand IGaming said was too onerous and expensive.
For a company with a healthy market cap, IGaming had a few cash flow problems. Retrenched staff received postdated cheques which then bounced.
Perhaps le Carre could pick up the tale from the City, should IGaming make its way on to the London Stock Exchange.
He may also wish to direct a few inquiries to the JSE, the FSB, the Reserve Bank, the South African Police Service, the directorate of public prosecutions and the ministry of finance, for an account of their roles in the saga.