Court orders Cadac boss not to defame retirement fund curator

CADAC chief executive Simon Nash, his wife, Elena Forno-Nash, and his spokesperson, Lance Rothschild, have been ordered by the High Court to stop making defamatory statements about retirement fund curator Anthony Mostert.

Judge KE Matojane, of the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court, ordered that any further action by the three against Mostert must be granted by the High Court.

The ruling follows a concerted misinformation campaign against Mostert and officials from National Treasury, the Financial Services Board (now the Financial Sector Conduct Authority) and the National Prosecuting Authority, as Nash tried to delay civil and criminal action against himself.

Nash and his company, Midmacor, are facing criminal charges of fraud, theft and money laundering from the Sable and Power Pack pension funds, which were stripped of their pension surpluses in the 1990s.

He is also under investigation for taking R11 million from the Cadac Pension Fund to fund his defence in the criminal case against him.

Judge Matojane handed down a 29-page judgment in which he stated that the allegations by Nash, his wife and Rothschild were “preposterous and not supported by any facts” and were “typical of (Nash’s]) modus operandi, which involves making unsubstantiated malicious allegations without any proof ”.

Mostert brought the matter to court this year, when Nash laid charges with the police, which he distributed to various media.

The judge ordered that Nash, his wife and Rothschild should:

Not make any further false statements;

Remove any website containing such statements within 24 hours and prevent any further addition to any other media; and,

First apply to the High Court before taking any further action against Mostert.

The judge quoted Mostert as saying Nash’s conduct has had the effect of delaying the progression and administration of the pension funds from which the surpluses were removed. This has resulted in prejudice to the former fund members.