Probe into Taliep's R5m payout

Published Aug 20, 2009

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The estate of murdered music star Taliep Petersen has been wound up and all that remains is a modest R10 000.

Now attorneys are turning their attention to Taliep's multimillion-rand insurance policy payout to secure his six children a bigger slice of the estate.

The sole beneficiary of the R5,3-million insurance policy is nine-year-old Zaynab Petersen, who was born from Taliep's marriage to Najwa Petersen - the woman who was sentenced to 28 years for orchestrating his December, 2006, murder.

City attorney Igshaan Higgins confirmed the R10 000 balance on Wednesday and said all creditors who had lodged claims against the estate had been paid.

The estate was finalised in the past two weeks and a payout would be made soon.

Higgins was also considering giving Taliep's "priceless" music equipment to his heirs.

Higgins said even though there was only R10 000 left of the estate, it had been insolvent when he had become involved in the process two years ago.

His firm had managed to create a positive balance after persuading the Namibian tax authorities to reduce their claim against the estate from R3.8m to R800 000.

The Namibian tax authorities said the amount represented Najwa's unpaid taxes from a business she and her siblings operated there.

Since she and Taliep were married in community of property, her debts could be claimed from the estate. The attorneys also settled the mortgage bonds of three houses.

Higgins, attorney Sharleen Mouton and the firm, De Klerk and Van Gend, will now turn their attention to the R5.3m insurance policy payout intended for Zaynab.

Higgins said the firm had delayed the investigation into the insurance policy until they had satisfied the creditors.

He wants the money to form part of the Petersen estate to ensure that it is divided equally among his six children.

Higgins said last month that he would investigate whether Taliep had consented to making Zaynab the sole beneficiary of the insurance policy and whether he had agreed to exclude his other children from benefiting from the insurance policy.

Since her mother's incarceration, Zaynab has been living with Suleiman Effendi, Najwa's son from a previous marriage.

Taliep also had a daughter, Natasha Vorster, from a previous relationship, and three daughters and a son from his marriage to Madeegha Anders.

During Najwa's bail application in 2007 in the Wynberg Regional Court, it emerged that she had tried to have the R5.3m paid into a Namibian bank account in her name soon after Taliep's murder in 2006.

She said she had done so because she did not use that account and had wanted to keep the money separate from her own. Her intention had been to set up a trust fund for Zaynab.

Higgins will probe the circumstances surrounding the decision to make Zaynab the sole beneficiary. He wanted to ensure that Taliep's other children were not left destitute.

In February, Najwa was sentenced to 28 years in jail for Taliep's murder, while Waheed Hassen and Abdoer Raasiet Emjedi were each sentenced to 24 years for their role in his death.

Jefferson Snyders was sentenced to seven years in jail for robbery.

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