Pink-gem case would exhaust even Clouseau
Tycoon faces trial — 13 years after charges
● It is a case worthy of Inspector Clouseau: a “stolen” giant pink diamond, R40m in alleged bank fraud and a R3bn claim against the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
At the centre is diamond dealer Sylla Moussa. In 2006 he was charged with defrauding Absa of R40m. He was released on bail but the case has yet to go to trial.
Moussa asked the NPA to relax his bail conditions and demanded the state reimburse him R3.1bn in lost value and earnings.
Moussa could not travel to Geneva this week for a court case involving a pink diamond said to be worth R1.1bn. He is suing Swiss storage company Malca-Amit for handing “his” diamond to Johannesburg businessman Zunaid Moti. The company says Moussa “relinquished ownership of the diamond” after he defaulted on a debt.
Moussa said the state’s refusal to allow him to travel to Switzerland “severely jeopardised” his lawsuit.
“If they hadn’t charged me, my empire would be huge. Without this case, I could build myself up again, back to where I was,” he told the Sunday Times this week.
According to the state’s indictment, Moussa in 2006 defrauded Absa of R40m using a technique known as “cheque kiting” — writing cheques to transfer cash before the cheques bounce.
Moussa said he was using his overdraft to its legal limits. He repaid R23m and contributed R1m to Absa’s legal fees in 2018. After this, he submitted to court a letter from Absa that said the bank no longer wished to pursue criminal charges against him. But the state decided in June to continue with the case. A trial date has been set for January.
“All of this is about my success,” said Moussa. The criminal case was a result of “third party forces” who wanted to sabotage his career. Last year Moussa told TimesLIVE: “The Motis discovered I was in financial difficulties. They said they wanted to partner with me in my business. They sent people to Geneva to view my diamond but it was under false pretences. They used false documents to steal my diamond.”
Interpol arrested Moti last year. He spent five months in a German jail before being exonerated and returned to SA in January.
Moussa said the Swiss authorities were keeping the diamond until the conclusion of the Malca-Amit matter.
In August his lawyer, Tumisho Phalane, wrote to the NPA, saying “our client has suffered damages in the amount of R2bn, excluding the damages of the lost diamond (R1.1bn)”.
“We are instructed to demand payment of such money from you [the NPA] and the said amount of money should be paid within six months of the receipt of this notice, failing which our client has no alternative but to issue summons against you.”
Phalane told the Sunday Times that though the NPA had confirmed receiving the letter, it had yet to respond. On Tuesday, Moussa approached the high court in Johannesburg to relax his bail conditions. The state responded with a counter application to revoke his bail entirely. Both applications failed.
The NPA did not respond to queries regarding Moussa’s claims.
Moti’s lawyer, Ulrich Roux, said his client did not want to comment.
Moti is a controversial figure. In 2010 the City of Johannesburg took legal action against him for the restitution of 33 properties, claiming these had been fraudulently sold to two companies of which Moti was a director.
His company, FinFuture, was in 2008 denied a licence to provide financial services and in 2009 another of his companies, Abalengi, paid R1.5bn to Investec to settle a bad debt.
When Moti was released from detention in Germany in November, Roux said that the charges “fabricated” against his client were part of a plot by the Russian mafia, who also had an interest in the diamond.
Criminal law expert Mannie Witz said 13 years of pretrial proceedings were excessive. “It could be understandable if the matter had gone to trial.” But Witz, an advocate who is familiar with the case, said the delays prejudiced the witnesses rather than Moussa.