Cape attorney wanted in fraud case

A conveyancer and lawyer, wanted by the police in an alleged fraud case of more than R1m, has been interdicted from practising as an attorney.

Cape Town - A Cape Town conveyancer and lawyer, wanted by the police in an alleged fraud case of more than R1 million, has been interdicted by the Western Cape High Court from practising as an attorney.

Garon Kevin Nortje, from Garon Nortje & Associates Inc (GNA), was handling a property transfer for widow

Brenda Daniels and acted as an executor of her late husband Dennis Daniels’ estate.

At the time, the Mellowood Trust paid Nortje more than R1m for the sale of the property. But, according to trustees, the property, worth R1.6m, never materialised.

The trustees’ attorney, Faizel Kara, later discovered the bank account Nortje had supplied did not belong to a “trust account”.

In an urgent court application, the trustees said the deed of sale provided that the transfer of the property be affected by August 31, 2015, but by October Nortje had not transferred the property.

They claim Nortje failed to provide proper bank statements. Instead, he issued a “fabricated statement” prepared by a staff member at his office.

Kara said Nortje, who was also a pastor in the Retreat area, managed to evade the sheriff of the court when he was being issued with court documents.

In his affidavit, Kara said: “Our client transferred funds in the sum of R1 250 000.00 into an account which attorney Garon Kevin Nortje provided as his firm’s trust account. It was subsequently discovered that our client was scammed by attorney Garon Kevin Nortje.”

While police spokesperson FC van Wyk said there were no new developments in their investigations, the trustees claim the GNA Inc has closed its doors.

Cape Times