Bid to recover millions from crooked RAF lawyer

THE wheels are in motion to claim back millions of rands owed to poor people who were bamboozled by disgraced Bellville-based attorney, Brian Baumann.

His name was officially struck off the roll of attorneys this week, after Western Cape High Court Judge Patrick Gamble ruled that the convicted fraudster's actions in swindling clients who had lodged claims for compensation with the Road Accident Fund, were “scandalous, to say the least”.

Baumann, 53, is imprisoned in Goodwood after he, in November last year, pleaded guilty to and was convicted on 16 counts of fraud and sentenced to 12 years direct imprisonment. The high court noted that Baumann misled his clients as to the extent of their respective settlements, telling them that they were entitled to only a fraction of what was owed to them.

The charge sheet showed that the actual prejudice suffered by the 16 clients duped by him was R14.8m.

In one claim, there was a settlement amount of R2.5m, but only R500 000 was paid out by Baumann, who pocketed R1.97m.

There were seven instances where the amount retained by Baumann exceeded R1m, and in five other instances he kept more than R500 000.

The Legal Practice Council (LCP) applied to the high court to bar him from ever practicing, which Judge Gamble granted.

“For an officer of the court to become embroiled in such a swindle is scandalous, to say the least.

“But what aggravates the situation is the fact that the clients were poor people who had personally suffered injuries (or were the dependants of injured persons) and

Hess said the assets that were expected to be to be removed this week were for June invoices owed to Sechaba and Supreme Security Services.

“The sheriff informed us that they couldn’t proceed with the removal of assets because they required a big truck.

“So they are now making arrangements for that and we are still hopeful that action will be taken within this week.

“While I understand that the new board is trying to clean up the mess in the entity and that there are problems from the past … my clients have employees who need to be paid and other commitments which would force them to close if they are not paid,” said Hess.

While Mbalula’s spokesperson, Lawrence Venkile, did not respond to questions, Prasa said it needed 24 hours to respond to requests for comment on the attachment of

the assets.