CAPE TOWN - A second Cape Town attorney has been jailed by the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for theft, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Thursday.
NPA provincial spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila said Arthur Skibbe, 62, was sentenced to five years imprisonment.
He said Skibbe was convicted on theft charges after he confessed that his client, Frederick Hoffman deposited R740,169 into his attorney’s trust account on October 2, 2015, as deposit against liquidations of a company Hoffman owned, Finman 122.
Ntabazalila said Engen Petroleum applied for liquidation proceedings against Hoffman’s company and the money paid into Skibbe’s trust account for safekeeping until the dispute has been resolved between the two parties.
Hoffman’s company eventually appointed a new attorney to negotiate on their behalf with Engen Petroleum.
This meant Skibbe had to transfer all the funds deposited by Hoffman to the new attorney, however, he could not as he had misappropriated a portion of the money. A total of R237,181 (US$15,837).
On May 19, 2015, Skibbe only paid back R501,986.
Hoffman claimed the rest of his money back from the attorney’s Fidelity Fund.
“A Fidelity Fund is a fund set to compensate members of the public who have suffered financial loss as a result of the theft of trust moneys that were entrusted to an attorney in the ordinary course of his practice,” Ntabazalila said.
“The Fidelity Fund is funded by interests on the trust funds held in the attorney’s trust account.”
He said Skibbe confessed to stealing the money for personal gain, greed and his addiction to gambling on horse racing.
The Fidelity Fund lost R237,181 due to Skibber’s greed.
The NPA said it welcomed this sentence and this strengthened its resolve to fight white collar crime.
Earlier this week, attorney Enslin Meyer, 63, from Eslin Meyer Attorneys with offices in Mitchells Plain and Gordon’s Bay, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for theft.
Meyer failed to pay his clients their full or whole sum processed to them by the Road Accident Fund.
African News Agency (ANA)