Cape Town - The Constitutional Court has denied leave to appeal in two cases involving a trust and a company connected to Cape Town financial adviser Petrus Louw, who was jailed in March this year for defrauding his clients of millions of rand.
Both cases were heard on appeal from the Western Cape High Court and while they had been consolidated into one for the Constitutional Court to hear, the court issued two separate unanimous judgments.
The Constitutional Court judges who heard the consolidated case and returned both judgments were Nonkosi Mhlantla, Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Mjabuliseni Madondo, Steven Majiedt, Dhayanithie Pillay, Owen Rogers, Leona Theron, Pule Tlaletsi and Zukisa Tshiqi.
The first case was brought by Gert Burger, Anton Keet and Willem Cronje in their capacity as the trustees of a family trust known as the HNP Trust.
This case concerned an application for leave to appeal against an order for the final sequestration of the trust by the high court.
In the ruling for this case, the court wrote: “The applicants have failed to establish that this court’s jurisdiction is engaged.
“As the threshold requirement has not been met, it is not necessary to consider the second leg of the enquiry, that is, whether it is in the interests of justice to grant leave to appeal.
“Accordingly, this court is unable to determine the issues raised. Leave to appeal must be refused.”
The second application was by Christian Bester, Legadimane Maisela and Thomas van Zyl, who are the trustees of the insolvent Estate Louw.
They sought leave to appeal against an order of the high court which declined to grant a final order of liquidation of a company known as Quintado 120 (Pty) Ltd.
Louw and his wife Martha were trustees of the HNP Trust together with Cronje, who also happened to be Louw’s business partner.
HNP held shares in two companies, Pholaco and Quintado.
The other shares in Quintado were held by Markram Kellerman’s family trust. Kellerman is Louw’s brother-in-law.
During his trial earlier this year, Louw said he had defrauded his clients of around R110 million and the funds had been used in his company, Pholaco. In the interim, his joint estate with his wife was declared insolvent.
Judge Mhlantla wrote: “At the heart of this matter is the question: What legal claim, if any, the estate of an alleged self-confessed fraudster can have against a trust that he administered to recover funds derived from fraudulent activities.
“The fruits of ill-gotten gains often leave a bitter taste in the mouths of those who are swindled by cunning fraudsters.
“Meanwhile, these fruits line the pockets of these fraudsters and launch them into affluence.
“This is most unfortunate, as it wreaks havoc on livelihoods and leaves the victims embroiled in litigation in an attempt to recover these monies.”