Durban - A Durban North businessman who has embarked on a lengthy legal battle to have alleged “fake” liquidation orders overturned, has been slammed by his former attorney who says he was a “despicable client” and that he had been harassing her.
Ian Brakspear, an investment market trader, recently made headlines after he made a court application to have two court orders authorising the liquidation of his company, West Dune Properties, declared “null and void”.
The liquidation application was brought by Fairbairn Trust Limited, now called Nedgroup - a subsidiary of Nedbank Group Limited - because the company was unable to pay its debts.
Before the liquidation, West Dune’s Cape wine farm, Klein Normandie, was sold for R17 million to Zambrotti Investments in June 2008 because it had reneged on a mortgage bond agreement and owed about R14m to First Rand Bank. Liquidators later reversed the sale, before the transfer of the property was finalised, because they got a better offer from business mogul Johann Rupert. The farm was then sold to Rupert for R25.2m.
On Monday, Brakspear’s case came before Durban High Court Judge Nompumelelo Radebe but it was adjourned because Brakspear, who is representing himself, had set the matter down in the wrong manner.
Brakspear alleges that provisional and final court orders, granted by the court in December 2008 and February 2009, were forged and there was possible collusion between his attorney, Fiona Scott, and law firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS), who had been representing Fairbairn.
He said Lieutenant-Colonel Vusi Mbhele, from the Hawks, was investigating the alleged fraud and had taken affidavits from two co-registrars, who stated that they did not sign the court orders. A senior court registrar also apparently stated that the court orders were not typed in the right format, the court file was missing and there was no record of the matter being dealt with by Judge Sharmaine Balton in 2008.
Scott, who handled the liquidation application for Brakspear, denies there was any collusion. “I fail to understand any possible gain I could have got from colluding with any other party,” she said.
Scott said she was in constant telephonic contact with Brakspear when the first order was granted and he had not raised an objection.
She withdrew as Brakspear’s attorney in 2010 after he had been “erratic, abusive and unstable”. She said he was sending her threatening e-mails and had complained about her to the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society.
Leonard Katz, a director of ENS, has also denied any allegations of collusion or forgery.
Katz said that there was no recording because it was heard in chambers by Judge Balton.
He said Brakspear’s counsel, Sydney Alberts, and Fairbairn’s advocates were present when the order was granted by Judge Balton and he was in court when Judge Trevor Gorven made the order final.
Katz said that Brakspear had attached a photocopy of the front cover of the “missing” court file to his application.
“He makes no attempt to explain how, given that the file is missing, he came to be in possession of this document.”
He said even if it was proven that the court orders were forged, this could not interfere with the orders granted by judges Balton and Gorven.
The Mercury