Court finds former Pinnacle Point chairman owes Investec R240m

THE FORMER chairman of troubled property group Pinnacle Point has been sequestrated, the Western Cape High Court finding he owes Investec Bank more than R240 million.

In a judgment handed down yesterday the court granted a final order sequestrating the joint estate of Ivor Stratford and his wife Sheila.

The Stratfords argued that their estate was worth R780 000.

But Judge Pearl Mantame was not convinced.

“A person in the stature of (Ivor Stratford) who went international with his businesses besides the property business he was involved in (in) South Africa cannot be said to be worth (R780 000),” she wrote.

He also hadn’t offered explanations for several transactions involving his estate, among them a R6m payment to a non-existent company. The numerous business entities and transactions the Stratfords had been involved in would have to be investigated, said the judge.

Investec took the couple to court over a debt of just over R240m relating to monies that had been lent and advanced to them. According to the judgment, it appeared that the Stratfords had not disputed the fact that the bank had a claim against them, though they had disputed the amount.

The only assets they had declared was R400 000 that had accrued in a trust, and a property in King William’s Town worth R380 000.

Investec’s lawyers had argued that Ivor Stratford had made a series of transactions in the period leading to his provisional sequestration.

This included a R28m payment on March 12, 2009, that had “in all likelihood” been transferred to Stratford or an entity controlled by him.

On May 15, 2009, there had been a R6m payment from Pinnacle Point Investments to a company called Ivor C Stratford Investment – but according to the judgment there was no company registered with that name.

“The money might have been diverted to (Ivor Stratford) personally,” the judgment read, outlining Investec’s arguments.

Attorney Lisa Melis of the law firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, which is representing both Investec and the liquidators in the Pinnacle Point matter, said that while the commissioner of the inquiry into Pinnacle Point’s affairs had submitted to them a report based on the evidence that had been led, a shareholder had requested further inquiry sessions. These are expected to begin on August 22.