TWO city businessmen under police investigation have spoken out for the first time, detailing their business dealings to Community Safety MEC Dan Plato in an effort to clear their names.
Mark Lifman, of Sea Point, and Jerome Booysen, of Belhar, have told Plato they are not involved in criminal activity and insist that others jealous of their success are trying to smear them.
Lifman and Booysen asked to meet Plato last week after their names surfaced as alleged backers of Specialised Protection Services (SPS), formed after underworld kingpin Cyril Beeka’s murder last year.
In the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court last month, during the bail application of Serbian assassin Dobrosav Gavric, who was driving Beeka when he was killed, the investigating officer, Paul Hendrikse, said Lifman was under investigation for organised crime, while Booysen was a suspect in the investigation of Beeka’s murder and was a leader of the Sexy Boys gang.
The two, who have consistently refused interviews with the media, told Plato they would not speak to newspaper reporters, but would prefer going on television to give their side of the story.
Plato said during the meeting both Lifman and Booysen denied involvement in crime.
He put it to them that police had identified Booysen as a prominent gangster and that Lifman’s name was linked to notorious businesses dealings.
But the two had insisted they were law-abiding citizens, who paid their taxes.
Plato said Lifman and Booysen, who describe themselves as millionaires, told him they had made millions of rand out of housing in Belhar.
Lifman had told Plato he had made R5 million through playing poker and listed The Embassy, which is described as a “gentleman’s club” on its official website, as one of his clubs. “He said his 85-year-old dad is the only person in his family that talks to him. The rest don’t want to talk to him because they believe (he is involved in crime),” Plato said.
He said Lifman had told him he was aware police believed he had killed his former business partner, Yuri “the Russian” Ulianitski, five years ago.
“He told me: ‘I did not kill Yuri.’”
SPS, the bouncer company which Lifman backed, was effectively crippled a few days ago when its chief executive officer, André Naudé, was arrested for running the company without the necessary registration from the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira).
An arrest warrant was also issued for Lifman.
Plato said Lifman, who left for China a day after their meeting and shortly before the warrant was issued, told him he did not know the company needed to be registered with Psira.
Lifman told him SPS had streamlined the nightclub security industry and had brought back good practice.
Plato said Booysen was the president of the Belhar Rugby and Football Club.
“(Booysen) told me he was quite naughty at times, but that was many years ago and he said he is now a very different person,” Plato said.
He said Lifman and Booysen asked him for advice on how to deal with the police naming them as suspected criminals and having their business dealings focused on in the media.
“I told them they mustn’t try and clear their names through me. There’s nothing much I can do. I told them to go to the police or to the court,” Plato said.
Throughout the meeting, Plato said, Lifman and Booysen had referred to the DA – saying there was a political campaign “to get at” them.
“I told them we just do our work as politicians and that the information is coming out of your own ranks,” Plato said, referring to interviews he had done with underworld figures who had implicated Lifman and Booysen in criminal dealings.
Plato said Lifman and Booysen were toying with the idea of hiring a spokesperson to deal with the media.
He had told them he would brief the media on what was discussed during their meeting. - Cape Times