Ex-principal faces arrest for not making payments

THE noose around disgraced former Greenwood Primary School principal Patrick Shelver’s neck is tightening after current principal Gary Pike submitted an affidavit yesterday saying Shelver had failed to make his first two payments.

Pike’s affidavit will now allow police to apply for a warrant for Shelver’s arrest as he has not adhered to a court ruling that he pay the school back its money.

Shelver was given a 10-year jail sentence, suspended for five years, after pleading guilty to the theft of R1.3-million in a property scam. He still owes the school R600 000 after his assets were seized by the Assets Forfeiture Unit.

Magistrate Stanley Gumede ordered Shelver to pay back the money in monthly instalments within a five-year period. The court agreed he would pay R10 000 a month, with the first payment due on March 7 and further instalments due before the seventh of every month. But Shelver has already missed two payments. “To date no payments have been made and no contact has been made by him [Shelver] or his attorney,” Pike said.

“I submitted the affidavit to the detectives informing them that he has failed to pay the money and am now waiting for it to go to the clerk of the court.

“I am not sure how long the process will take, but at the end of the day the school just wants its money back.”

Shelver, 55, is believed to be in Thailand where he had a teaching job but which he lost as a result of the publicity his case received, according to law enforcement officials.

International police organisation Interpol will be roped in to assist if a warrant of arrest is issued and Shelver is tracked down outside South Africa.

Shelver and prominent Port Elizabeth lawyer Michael Randell were arrested in November 2009 after allegedly defrauding the school of millions of rands by pocketing money from the sale of school property.

The two men, together with former school governing body member Michael Lascot, allegedly pocketed R2.5-million. Lascot has since died.

Randell, who maintains his innocence, is due to appear in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court today.

PATRICK SHELVER