‘Man with a dark secret’ sells aircraft twice to two different buyers

Aircraft at Lanseria Airport.. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi/African News Agency (ANA)

Aircraft at Lanseria Airport.. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Jan 31, 2023

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Pretoria - A brand new aircraft which just landed at Lanseria Airport from its manufacturer in Tennessee, a bottle of champagne on hand to toast its arrival, and a man with a dark secret about the plane.

The scene captured in a picture toasting the happy owner was at the centre of a case in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg.

As it turned out, the man with the secret, who facilitated the sale of the plane, a Cirrus SR22 G6 GTS, had sold it twice to different buyers.

Flying enthusiast Denise Hellmann eventually found out about the double dealing after more than a year and turned to court for an order declaring her as the legitimate owner of the plane.

She described to the court how, on November 23, 2019, her dream aeroplane – made according to her specifications – had arrived in South Africa from its US manufacturer in Tennessee.

Flying the plane was her son, Neil Hellman. Members of her family of flying enthusiasts waited excitedly for the arrival of the plane.

Neil then handed the keys of the aircraft to her, a former pilot, but now in her 80s and no longer an aviator.

Also with them at the airport to celebrate was Piet van Blerk, the erstwhile chief executive and sole director of the liquidated CDC Aviation (Pty) Ltd. Unbeknown to her and her family, Van Blerk had sold the same aircraft just over two weeks earlier, to a company, Merchant West (Pty) Ltd.

There was no dispute between Hellmann and MW that each was defrauded by Van Blerk and that both parties acted in good faith. What they did dispute was who was entitled to ownership of the plane

The Hellmanns are a family, including mother, son and grandson, with a passion for flying light aircraft. The elderly Mrs Hellmann, at the time of buying the new aircraft, had already bought a second-hand Cirrus aircraft from Van Blerk and his company in 2017.

The company was also responsible for performing certain services including looking after the aircraft whilst it remained in CDC’s hangars at Lanseria. Van Blerk convinced her to trade in the old aeroplane and for a new one.

The plane had to be built and over the next few months, the Hellmann family planned its specifications which were to be customised to suit them.

In May 2019, CDC invoiced Hellmann for the plane. The purchase price was R13.3 million, minus R5m as trade-in for the old plane.

The agreement reflected Cirrus US as the seller and CDC as the purchaser. There was no mention in the agreement of Hellmann of the fact that the plane had already been sold to a third party.

This in itself would not have aroused suspicion as Cirrus US does not deal directly with customers in South Africa but only through its agent at the time the CDC, the court was told.

Hellmann’s son, Neil, went to Tennessee where he underwent training on the aircraft for three days before taking delivery of the aircraft. He undertook a 10 day flight back to South Africa to bring the new aircraft home.

Once here, the aircraft still registered in the US needed to be registered with the SA Civil Aviation Authority.

Van Blerk had the aircraft registered in the CDC’s name, and not in Hellmann’s name as she had agreed to this.

Part of the plane’s registration was TTD, which is said to stand for “Thanks to Teddy” , a reference to the name of Hellman’s husband.

The Hellmanns used the plane for about a year before red lights began flashing when Van Blerk’s company was liquidated and some of the facts came to light. Merchant West, which claimed the plane was theirs, explained to the court how the company had entered into an agreement with Van Blerk to finance more than R16.5m for the aeroplane.

In terms of the complicated agreement, the CDC would, in turn, have five years to re-purchase the plane by paying monthly instalments, while retaining the use of the plane. Van Blerk, however, fell into arrears.

Judge Norman Manoim said had he paid off the instalments, no one would have been any the wiser.

Hellmann would have continued to believe she had a clean title to the plane, while Merchant West would have had no need to make enquiries as long as instalments were paid.

In the end, the judge found in favour of Hellmann, ruling that she had acquired ownership of the aeroplane when it arrived at Lanseria Airport and she was there to collect it.

Pretoria News