Tycoon ‘hijacks’ class action

CHIEF LITIGANTS WITHDRAW CHARGES The Highveld Syndication Action Group’s class action lawsuit against Nic Georgiou appears dead in the water.

The Highveld Syndication Action Group (HSAG) has accused property magnate Nic Georgiou of attempting to “hijack” an imminent class action suit against him by allegedly “buying off” the six applicants.

These six individuals were representatives of the 7 000 HSAG investors and their applications to institute a class action against Georgiou and the application to rescind the Orthotouch scheme of arrangement was funded by the financial contributions of their fellow HSAG members. The HSAG claims in court papers that Georgiou approached the six individuals and paid them to settle their claims against him and Orthotouch. The six in terms of the agreements allegedly appointed new attorneys and applied to the South Gauteng High Court to withdraw their application.

If this withdrawal application succeeds it will mean the end of the class action, as the HSAG would not be able to bring a new application because the prescribed time period to bring such an application has lapsed.

In a strongly-worded affidavit Jacques Theron, the HSAG’s attorney, says this happened behind the HSAG and legal team’s back and is a “deliberate stratagem” of Georgiou to “thwart the class action. The attempted withdrawal of the application and the aim to sabotage the class action is not only an offence against the basic principles and very purpose of a class action, but also against the legal provisions, as set out in Section 38(c) of the constitution.”

Theron emphasises that the six individuals were carefully chosen to represent the other investors and their legal fees were paid by financial contributions of the 7 000 HSAG members.

He adds that the six did not know each other and that it is “not a coincidence” that they went to the same attorney to file their notice of withdrawal applications.

Theron also claims that Georgiou admitted to the HSAG steering committee that he settled the claims of the six applicants during a meeting in Mossel Bay, but that he only became aware of what was going on when the notice of withdrawal was served.

Business offered Georgiou an opportunity to respond to the allegations, but he had not replied by the time of publishing.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) last week denied Georgiou leave to appeal against a previous judgment that ordered him to repay investors of the Highveld Syndication 21 and 22 companies. Georgiou will now have to repay about R30 million to 46 investors. Other investors can now institute similar claims.

Earlier Elna Visagie and Herman Lombaard, previously two of the most active campaigners of HSAG, accepted employment at Orthotouch, with salaries as high as R100 000 a month.