British investor Errol Elsdon, who wants 40% of “Please Call Me inventor” Nkosanna Makate’s payout from Vodacom, says he has instructed his attorneys to institute defamation proceedings against Makate.This follows Makate’s allegations that Elsdon forged his signature in a document the investor was relying on to claim a share of Makate’s settlement.Elsdon, who claims to have funded Makate’s claim against Vodacom, says the allegations are false, malicious and defamatory.Makate wants the NPA to prosecute Elsdon for forgery or grant him a nolle prosequi certificate, as he intends to prosecute the investor privately if the state decides not to.Elsdon, a former director of Black Rock Mining, said the dispute between him and Makate is now before the high court and that he intends to challenge the inventor’s allegations through the legal proceedings.“I was willing to be called many things when I agreed to fund this case… a criminal was never one of them. I will not be branded a criminal for honouring a contract, and I will answer that accusation where it belongs: in court,” Elsdon said in a statement.Makate said it was “strange” that Elsdon stated that he wanted to sue him for defamation.“The fraud ruling was long declared by an arbitration ruling of Advocate Mabena that as directors of Raining Men, they forged my signatures; this fraud is the subject of a criminal case that has been pending for years,” Makate said on Wednesday.Makate said the Black Rock case now before the high court was “about the perpetuation of fraud which was committed under Raining Men”.“There is no need for Mr Elsdon to sue me; the fraud matter is already before the high court assigned to Judge Lenyai; all he must now do is respond in person to those court papers as a respondent,” Makate said.Makate also disputed Elsdon’s claims that they funded his case against Vodacom and labelled Elsdon’s bid for payment as a fraudulent attempt to extort him.Elsdon further argued that Makate did not have the financial means to pursue the litigation when they first met and that the funding arrangement was instrumental in enabling the claim to proceed.“I do not begrudge Makate a cent of his success,” Elsdon said. “But it did not come from nowhere. It came from a reworked case, a legal team, and money put up by people who were prepared to lose every cent of it.”Elsdon also rejected suggestions that attempts to enforce the funding agreement amounted to extortion.“Extortion is a demand for something you have no right to; a funding agreement is the opposite: a contract, freely signed, under which those who take the risk share in the result.”The businessman said the court proceedings will provide an opportunity for the evidence surrounding the funding arrangements to be tested in a public forum.“For years, this story has been told in a single voice. Now the evidence and documents will speak for themselves.”Elsdon also addressed questions that have been raised about Black Rock’s registration in the British Virgin Islands. He said a period of deregistration arose from an unpaid annual fee, but that was apparently later rectified.“I helped a man who had nothing turn a stalled and unfunded claim into a landmark result,” Elsdon said, adding he asked only that their agreement be honoured.Makate told the Sunday Times two weeks ago that he was not worried about Elsdon’s 40% claim, as it had no merit.“I am not worried about this [claim]; it is just that institutions like the National Prosecuting Authority have been dragging their feet in prosecuting this fraud, hence the abuse of the civil court process by Errol Elsdon,” Makate said at the time.TimesLIVE