Partners play blame game

It’s highly unlikely that I will appeal the judgment because I haven’t got any money

PETER Cowling and Christiaan Janeke blame each other for their clients’ missing millions.

This week Cowling told the Sunday Times that his wife was contesting the liquidation because some assets were in her name.

He said he had never stolen from his clients and that the judgment against him was fraught with inconsistencies.

“It’s highly unlikely that I will appeal the judgment because I haven’t got any money. All the funds I had available for my retirement I paid into the account as soon as I realised there was shortage of funds.

“I didn’t take the money in the first place. I was horrified because clients were prejudiced by the lack of funds. People who had supported us over the years were suffering.”

In papers in the High Court in Pretoria for the application to strike the two off the roll, Cowling said Janeke had cashed crossed cheques meant for the trust account. Janeke denied this in an affidavit, saying Cowling was in charge of the finances and that he had left the practice with only his “gown”.

Cowling, who has been an attorney for 42 years, claimed that certain files had been destroyed when part of the building from which the firm operated collapsed.

Janeke declined to speak to the Sunday Times this week. But in his court papers, he said: “If given the opportunity, I shall clearly demonstrate that I did not misappropriate any trust funds and that the misappropriation of trust funds was done by [Cowling], without my knowledge and mostly after I left the partnership.”

Janeke is appealing the court order striking them from the roll —