"Absurd" was how Springbok rugby legend Jannie Engelbrecht described a request that he explain a R791 000 transferral of his family business's money into his private bank account, it emerged in the Cape High Court on Thursday.
And Engelbrecht may have to wait until August to give his reasons for allegedly refusing to disclose why the money was transferred and how it was used.
Engelbrecht's estranged wife Ellen, son Jean and daughters Angeline Engelbrecht and Judy Graaff are seeking to prevent him from adding or removing trustees from the multimillion-rand family trust. In papers, Ellen Engelbrecht said she was forced to take action against her husband of 40 years to protect the trust - and the family's financial future.
Counsel for Ellen Engelbrecht claim that 67-year-old Jannie removed his son Jean as a director of the family trust - after the 39-year-old former pilot and winemaker confronted him over an extramarital affair with freelance journalist Romi Boom.
Among the allegations levelled at Engelbrecht are claims that he appointed his brothers and friends as directors of the family trust in order to manipulate it, used the trust's income for himself despite not being a beneficiary and put the family's wine business at risk by undermining his son.
In papers, Jannie Engelbrecht claims the terms of the trust gave him the power to appoint and dismiss its directors as he saw fit. He also raises questions about his son's purchase of a R500 000 Land Cruiser as a company car, registered in Jean Engelbrecht's name.
During Thursday's argument by Johan van der Berg SC, for Ellen Engelbrecht and her children, it emerged that Jean Engelbrecht asked that his father be barred from coming into the offices of the Rust-en-Vrede wine estate.
Jean Engelbrecht in 2003 reached an out-of-court settlement with his father, following a legal bid to gain control of the business, in which Jannie Engelbrecht agreed to tell Rust-en-Vrede staff he was no longer in charge.
Justice Willem Louw indicated he would be unable to continue hearing the case next week and would only be available from August.