Infamous winelands farm up for auction
CAPE Town investment fund manager Cobus Kellermann, who is accused of hatching a R200-billion global Ponzi scheme, is seeing his assets slip away.
A Stellenbosch farm belonging to an investment fund linked to his Mauritian-based company, Belvedere Management Group, will go under the hammer tomorrow.
Prospective buyers are scrambling over the Stellenbosch mountainside land owned by Transholding Investments, which has been liquidated in Mauritius.
Belvedere, headed by Kellermann and Irish businessman David Cosgrove, is accused of massive fraud, including falsely inflating the value of funds that have either disappeared or failed. The pair are alleged to have pocketed millions of rands.
The Stellenbosch property took centre stage when the Miami-based publication OffshoreAlert claimed that Belvedere was engaged in fraudulent activity, describing it as “one of the biggest criminal financial enterprises in history”. At the time, Belvedere administered $16-billion (about R207billion).
In October 2010 a Belvedere-linked investment fund, Lancelot Stellenbosch Retreat, sold the farm for R72.8million to Transholding Investments. The transaction was alarming because Lancelot had bought the farm for R28.5-million two years earlier. The revaluation was apparently done without independent assessment.
Kellermann and Cosgrove have maintained their innocence and the Financial Services Board said this week it was still investigating the allegations.
The board’s spokeswoman, Tembisa Marele, said: “Our financial advisory and intermediary services department is busy with the investigations. The investigations have not yet been finalised.”
The 31ha farm to be auctioned is on the slopes of the Botmaskop and is said to have “exceptional views over the winelands and Somerset West to Table Mountain”.
According to Jonathan Smiedt, CEO of auctioneer ClareMart, the property is approved for an infrastructure development of 8 800m².
Smiedt said about 50 people had shown interest and some were prepared to pay up to R40-million.
“The existing approved development allows for 15 four-roomed villas, a hotel comprising 10 suites as well as a conference centre, restaurant and associated infrastructure. There is also a completed access road from the R310,” said Smiedt.
“Bordered on the one side by Tokara Estate, owned by chairman of RMB Holdings GT Ferreira, and on the other side by Delaire Graff, which is owned by billionaire jeweller Laurence Graff, this is most certainly an exclusive property.”
The Mauritian liquidator of Transholding, Yuvraj Thacoor, declined to comment. His lawyer, Rajeshwar Bucktowonsing, said information about the case was confidential.
Cosgrove was banned from working in financial services for five years by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission last August.
Kellermann’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.