Harksen heads for record books

2003-10-15 13:10

Cape Town - Untangling the financial web woven by arch-fraudster Jürgen Harksen has taken the best part of a decade, but the trustees of his insolvent estate feel the end is in sight.

One of them, Michael Lane, said in Cape Town this week that there was still "quite a lot" of litigation in process, with eight cases pending.

However the tempo of the litigation - about assets the trustees are seeking to reclaim - had reduced dramatically since Harsken left town, he said.

"Once these court cases are finalised, we'll be able to put the matter to bed."

And recently they managed to make their first payout, to 67 of Harksen's creditors.

The high-flying Harksen was declared insolvent in 1995, and was extradited to his native Germany last year after a spectacular final performance before the Desai Commission.

He had fought a nine-year battle against being sent home to face multiple charges of fraud and tax evasion.

In April this year a Hamburg court sentenced him to six years and nine months in jail. He still faces fraud charges in South Africa, but it remains to be seen whether he will ever return.

Harksen told the Hamburg judge that gullible investors had placed more than R400m in his hands, and continued giving him cash even after warnings he was a crook.

Harksen's haul about R950m

"When they get greedy, it makes them blind. Greed obstructs all reason," he said.

However a lawyer for the South African trustees estimated last year that he had stolen close to R800m in Germany, fraudulently obtained another R50m there, and had stolen another R100m since his arrival in South Africa in 1993.

Lane said: "Now we've really dealt with the main litigation, and we've set aside R1-million to finalise these last matters."

The total payout from the fourth account was about R3.6m, which he said might seem like a lot until one realised that the creditors' total claims were R2.7bn.

"But nevertheless it's still money," he said. "And it's always a pleasure to give a return to creditors."

Lane said the largest single creditor was a German-based investor who was claiming R758m, a figure which included the profits promised by Harksen, who offered some investors returns of 1 300%.

The liquidation of the estate was a "horrendously expensive" operation.

So far, it had involved about 120 High Court cases, a figure which excluded the many actions in the magistrate's courts, protracted insolvency hearings, and search-and-seize applications.

"This is unprecedented litigation in one insolvency case. I don't think that record will ever be broken," he said.

The trustees have already recovered about R36m, some of it through the sales of luxury vehicles, watches and jewellery, and anticipate collecting another R7m.

- SAPA