Trifecta man loses seizure bid

THE CEO of the Trifecta group of companies, Alfeus Christo Scholtz, has lost a court bid to prevent his assets from being seized by the state.

The Asset Forfeiture Unit resolved to seize R60 million of assets from Scholtz and his companies, after he was sentenced in December 2016.

Scholtz, along with the former ANC Provincial Secretary John Block, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after they were found guilty of corruption and money laundering in 2015.

The charges relate to leases exceeding R100 million that were facilitated for government rentals in the Province, in return for kickbacks.

Both Scholtz and Block are still out on bail, pending a petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal which is scheduled to take place next year, but was only granted against their convictions.

Scholtz, who wished to appeal both the guilty verdict as well as the confiscation order, denied that he had wrongly benefited from R6 million as a result of “unlawful activities”.

He pointed out that the State had not proven exactly what amount each entity had profited from.

He also believed that the State had failed to give evidence regarding a further confiscation order of R53 million.

Scholtz attributed the late date of the application for leave to appeal, to the December/January 2016 recess as well as the withdrawal of his advocate, JG Cilliers SC, from the matter in February this year.

Instructing attorney for Scholtz, W du Plessis, explained that the delay was due to a misunderstanding on the side of the candidate attorney who was instructed to attend to the matter by Mjila and Partners.

He believed that the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) would not be prejudiced by the late filing of court papers, as the amounts confiscated had already been paid over to the curator.

“The applicants would be severely Christo Scholtz, CEO of the Trifecta group of companies prejudiced if they are not granted leave to appeal because the state will be unjustifiably enriched at their expense.”

The NDPP only became aware of the court application via an email from the registrar’s office on October 25.

Head of the Asset Forfeiture Unit Advocate Chris Ndzengu maintained that the confiscation order was final and could not be taken on appeal.

He stated that the full confiscation amounts had been paid into National Treasury’s suspense bank account, pending the appeal.

Northern Cape Judge Mmathebe Violet Phatsoane, in her judgement that was handed down last week, dismissed the application.

Phatsoane indicated that an application to appeal his judgment, as well as the confiscation order, was only filed on October 10 2017, that was “10 months out of time”.

“The delay is egregiously excessive. It is disquieting that certain intervention periods of delay remain unexplained. For example Mr Du Plessis does not mention when counsel was instructed and why he did not diarise his client’s file. It is astonishing that a matter of this magnitude would be entrusted to a candidate attorney without any measure of supervision by the principal. In my view the applicant’s actions smacks of an abandonment of the application for leave to appeal.”

She pointed out that an accused was afforded 15 days to appeal after an order had been issued.

She believed that the application failed to show sufficient cause to warrant the late filing of the application for leave to appeal.

“The upshot of this is that there are no reasonable prospects of success on appeal. I am not swayed that another court may come to a different conclusion.”

Phatsoane added that the confiscation order was calculated on the net proceeds of the rentals received and the values of the added advantage emanating from the leases.

“An overriding consideration in the enquiry that could not be overlooked was the fact that the leases were corruptly concluded.”

She stated that several meetings were held to compute the amounts liable to be confiscated.

“It was agreed that the aggregate net proceeds of the leases liable for confiscation was approximately R6 million whereas the grand total for the added advantage (capital gain) was in the amount of R53 million.”

Phatsoane explained that the net proceeds had to be confiscated in respect of the individual Trifecta group of companies involved.

“None of the parties at any stage suggested changes in the figures agreed to.”

She advised that a court of appeal would not interfere with the confiscation amounts agreed upon.