INLSA
Bridge crash lawyer Koobashan Naicker is heading for trouble with the law, this time for allegedly raiding his trust account and stealing millions from his clients.
Bridge crash lawyer Koobashan Naicker is heading for trouble with the law, this time for allegedly raiding his trust account and stealing millions from his clients.
The word from the Attorneys’ Fidelity Fund is that he will be prosecuted. The fund has received 300 claims involving more than R5 million from people claiming Naicker ripped them off.
About 170 claims – valued at R2.5 million – have already been paid out and so far only one has been repudiated.
“He will be charged soon… our forensic people will work with the police to ensure he is prosecuted,” Jerome Losper, the fund’s executive, told The Mercury.
Naicker, through his attorney Kirshen Naidoo, said he was not aware of any charges against him for theft of trust money. He denied any wrongdoing.
Naicker, who is also facing murder charges relating to an accident in which three people died on the Athlone Bridge in Durban in March last year, once ran a busy law practice in Durban North dealing mainly with Road Accident Fund claims.
According to documents in The Mercury’s possession, the fund paid out R11 million to him between September 2008 and March 2011 when he had abandoned his practice.
Durban attorney Michael Friedman, who bought the practice with fellow attorney Dean Hunter, said: “The office was a complete mess.
“There were hundreds of files lying everywhere… and there were also numerous letters from the law society, detailing complaints against him where the clients alleged he had not paid them their compensation.” The rent had not been paid and neither had the staff.
When the law society checked, the only money in his trust account was part of the proceeds of the sale to Friedman and Hunter which Naicker had inadvertently asked to be deposited into his already frozen trust account.
Naicker was suspended from practising in August and struck off the roll in September.
In an affidavit before the Pietermaritzburg High Court in the strike-off application, the law society’s Pearl Mfusi said most of the deposits made by the Road Accident Fund had been transferred into Naicker’s business account. At one point, there was a balance of R9.50 in the trust account.
With the consent of clients, Friedman and Hunter took over most of the files and began trying to establish the status of each one.
In cases in which the fund had paid out to Naicker but the client claimed not to have received the money, they lodged claims with the fidelity fund, which will only compensate if it is satisfied that an attorney has stolen the money.
One of Naicker’s alleged victims is a man, now 21, who was 15 in 2006 when he was involved in an accident which left him brain damaged.
His mother made a claim to the Road Accident Fund through Naicker’s law firm, and four years ago the matter was settled with an order from the Durban High Court that the fund should pay out R1m, and that the costs of experts and legal fees be paid in addition.
In an affidavit in support of her claim to the fidelity fund, Fikile Nyawo, of Eshowe, says the fund paid the money into Naicker’s trust account, but she received only R150 000.
Nokuthula Zondi, of Eston, who was involved in an accident in December 2006, is claiming R200 000 which she alleges the accident fund paid into Naicker’s trust account. She says she has not received a cent.
“The money was intended to support me and provide me with necessary medical treatment. I believe he has stolen it.”
Their cases are among the 122 claims, with a collective value of R3m, still being processed.
“We are here for the claimaints,” said Losper. “But we have to be sure that money was paid by the RAF [Road Accident Fund] into the trust account and that he misappropriated it.
“This is an unusual situation. To put it in its context, the [fidelity] fund is presently dealing with 850 claims, of which 300 are from this single attorney.”
He said the fidelity fund had given Naicker an “opportunity to respond”, but he had not.
Gavin John of the KZN Law Society confirmed that Naicker had been struck from the roll for misappropriation of trust funds.
The matter had been referred to the police commercial crimes unit.
Brigadier Keith Flack, the acting provincial commander, commercial crime, said that when there were shortfalls in an attorney’s trust account, the police would wait for the fidelity fund to complete its investigation before taking the investigation further.
Naicker is facing an inquiry into possible cancellation of his bail because he allegedly broke his conditions by driving.
His trial for the murders of Gillian Bell, her eight-year-old son Connor and dancer Carmen Hunter has been set down in the Durban Regional Court for April next year.
