THE chairman of Randgold Resources, the London-listed gold miner engaged in a battle for control of Ghana’s Ashanti Goldfields with Anglogold, has been charged with 98 counts of theft and fraud.

South African prosecutors accused Roger Kebble, executive chairman of Randgold, of channelling six million rand (?516,240) from Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD), a mining company that he once chaired, into another private company.

Randgold insisted last night that the charges would not disrupt the company’s proposed $1.46 billion (?908 million) merger with Ashanti.

“Absolutely, positively not,” said Mark Bristow, the company’s chief executive.

This month Randgold made an all-share indicative offer for the Ghanaian miner made up of one new Randgold share for every two Ashanti shares.

Randgold is still conducting due diligence on the deal and is expected to decide within weeks whether it will proceed with a formal bid.

Anglogold, Randgold’s bigger rival, refused to comment on the allegations yesterday.

Mr Kebble, 63, a veteran of the South African gold mining industry, denied any wrongdoing and said that he would move to have the case against him dismissed.

Speaking from Tanzania last night, Mr Bristow said: “I have known Roger for a very long time and I have no doubt that I believe him. I trust him fully.”

He added: “Roger has kept the board absolutely informed. We will deal with the situation as and when we are required to deal with it.” Mr Kebble was first arrested last November on suspicion of fraud.

Although he had to spend a night in jail, he was not charged.

A South African court last month ordered prosecutors either to file formal charges against him by Thursday this week or to drop the case.

Mr Kebble is also chairman and a significant shareholder of Randgold & Exploration, the principal shareholder in Randgold Resources, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.

Yesterday he said: “The charge sheet that has been given to me is incomplete. It was done in a hurried way to satisfy the court order.”

The prosecutors filed 39 charges of fraud and 59 charges of theft, alleging that Mr Kebble wrongfully transferred money from Durban Roodepoort Deep, when he was chairman of the gold miner.

The case is one element in a complex legal battle between DRD’s current management and Mr Kebble, who was ousted from the miner last year.

DRD is suing Mr Kebble, his son Brett, who is also a nonexecutive director of Randgold Resources, and other former DRD managers for what it claims were irregular transactions that lost the company hundreds of millions of rand.

One accusation relates to the issue of DRD shares worth 122 million rand in 1999 to buy the Rawas gold mine in Indonesia.

That mine has since been closed and its value written off.

Mr Kebble was released on bail with the next court date set for February 2, 2004.