Mpisane files appeal over assets

Durban03122012 Shawn Mpisane leaves court today.Picture:Marilyn Bernard

Durban03122012 Shawn Mpisane leaves court today.Picture:Marilyn Bernard

Published Nov 6, 2013

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Durban - Durban construction tycoon Shauwn Mpisane has come out fighting yet again, this time filing for leave to appeal against a high court ruling restraining R70 million in assets amid her tax fraud trial.

According to court papers filed in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, Mpisane’s lawyer, Themba Mjoli, argued that Judge Sharmaine Bolton erred in her judgment on the restraint of Mpisane’s assets and benefits the businesswoman may have received from work carried out by her company Zikhulise Cleaning and Transport.

The ruling places a restraint on Mpisane’s financial gains, effectively placing a monetary value on her projects and granting a restraining order to the Asset and Forfeiture Unit for this value while her trial continues.

Some of the arguments put forward in support of Mpisane’s leave to appeal include:

l The alleged incorrect calculations of the benefit gained from several projects by Mpisane’s company.

l That Judge Bolton had incorrectly included the construction of Clairwood Hospital as one of the projects Mpisane had benefited from for the amount of R70m.

l That the hospital was never built by Mpisane’s company and therefore should not have formed part of the figure under restraint.

l That the potential benefit to Mpisane from all the projects under restraint totalled more than R57m, and the figure of R70 595 746.20 was therefore incorrectly calculated.

Mjoli added that the Inanda project was on-going and therefore could not be included in the restraint amount because Mpisane had not yet completed the project and it was therefore incorrect to include its total value as part of the restraining order.

Mjoli also questioned the reasons for the restraint of the value of benefit from projects carried out by Zikhulise, arguing that Mpisane owned several properties which could satisfy any confiscation order made in due course.

A ruling on Mpisane’s application for leave to appeal is expected next month.

Daily News

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