Cape Town: A Cape Town attorney has been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Late on Tuesday, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Eric Ntabazalila said Eslin Meyer, 63, was sentenced following his conviction on charges of theft and failure to keep proper accounting records of funds received by an attorney in a trust account.
He said Meyer was the owner of Eslin Meyer Attorneys and had offices in Mitchells Plain and Gordon’s Bay, where he represented clients with matters pertaining to the Road Accident Fund (RAF) and administration of deceased estates. Meyers had three trust accounts and two business accounts.
His clients filed claims against the RAF and filled in all documentation supplied to them along with all supporting documents, which they submitted.
Ntabazalila said that after administering the claims, the RAF made payments into Meyer’s trust accounts in favour of the claimants.
The court heard that in November 2013, 61 claims were submitted to Fidelity Funds against funds held by Meyer. Fidelity Funds paid R6.44 million to claimants who were defrauded by Meyer.
“A fidelity fund is a fund set to compensate members of the public who have suffered pecuniary loss as a result of the theft of trust monies that were entrusted to an attorney in the ordinary course of his practice. The fidelity fund is funded by interests on the trust funds held in the attorney’s trust account,” Ntabazalila said.
He said Meyer presented false payment invoices to clients where he only paid a portion of money paid out and embezzled the balance. In some instances, he would keep the entire RAF payment for himself and fail to inform his clients of their successful claims and receipt of funds.
One client was paid out R1.134 million but received only R402 413, while Meyer transferred R732 354 into his personal account.
In another instance, a client did not receive a cent from his claim in which the RAF paid out R373 365.
Between July 2006 and February 2007, R1.18m was paid into Meyer’s law firm’s trust account. He used the money for personal and business expenses.
Te State prosecutor said Meyer did not take the court into his confidence, and failed to explain why he had committed the crimes while maintaining his innocence despite all the evidence brought against him.
The State believes the motives for the crimes were greed and self-interest. The State declared them white-collar crimes and called on the court to impose a 15-year sentence.
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African News Agency (ANA)