Mandela lawyers sue Ayob
2007-02-24 22:24
Johannesburg - Lawyers for former president Nelson Mandela will take Ismail Ayob to court over R2.2m missing from the Nelson Mandela Trust, the Sunday Times reported in its early edition.
George Bizoz and Wim Trengove accuse Mandela's former lawyer, Ayob, of buying cars and paying hundreds of thousands of rands to his own companies.
Bizoz and Trengove represent Mandela on the trust. Ayob was removed from the trust in 2005 after a court battle the unauthorised sale of Mandela artworks.
In an affidavit, Trengove claimed that Ayob made "disbursements of more than R1.2m and distribution of R700 000 from the trust's bank account" without consulting the other trustees.
The Sunday newspaper reported that Ayob had denied any wrongdoing and was defending the court action.
Mandela 'approved dodgy payments'
Ayob also made claims that Mandela refused to pay taxes and approved the dodgy payments, the report said.
The case would be heard in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.
The report said that the money was part the R18m raised by Mandela from top businessmen, including the Oppenheimer family, for the benefit of his children and grandchildren.
Its said other companies donated to the trust included Absa, Nedcor, FirstRand, MTN, Sanlam, Barlowworld, Investec, and Venfin who donated R1m each.
Businessmen Tokyo Sexwale and Mzi Khumalo also donated R1m each.
- SAPA