Police embark on Mpisane property hunt

10 February 2013 - 02:03 By BONGANI MTHETHWA
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THE National Prosecuting Authority's Asset Forfeiture Unit will this week attach at least seven properties owned by a wealthy Durban couple who made millions from building low-cost government houses.

The Sunday Times has established that forfeiture unit investigators have been instructed to widen their hunt for assets of fraud accused Shauwn Mpisane and her husband, S'bu, a former metro policeman, to include luxury homes across KwaZulu-Natal.

On Wednesday the unit seized assets belonging to the couple, including 62 cars estimated by authorities to be worth more than R30-million. Anti-corruption task team agents swooped on the couple's mansion in La Lucia, Durban, with an order to seize assets worth R140-million.

Shauwn, who was granted R100000 bail in the Durban Commercial Crime Court on Friday, is accused of submitting forged documents to obtain Construction Industry Development Board gradings, which were used to win government tenders worth R140-million.

The tenders were awarded to her company, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport, between 2005 and last year.

Court-appointed curator Trevor White, who is tasked with finding and restraining all the couple's known assets, confirmed that he had been tasked with identifying the properties.

Most of them are listed in documents - including some relating to the couple's Mkhimpi Family Trust - seized on Wednesday.

The Sunday Times has established through deeds records and municipal valuation rolls that properties owned by the trust include:

An R8.5-million Umhlanga apartment in Sandringham Court that was bought in May 2007;

A sea-facing apartment in La Mercy, north of Durban, bought for R2-million cash in August 2007;

Two vacant sites, each measuring 1101m², in Zinkwazi Beach, north of Durban, bought by the couple from KwaMnqandi Properties for R2.5-million each. According to the Kwadukuza municipal valuation roll, the properties are earmarked for residential development; and

Another vacant property in Zinkwazi Beach, bought from a private seller for R1.2-million cash in December 2011.

Other properties owned by the couple, but not listed under the trust, include their primary residence, a three-storey mansion in La Lucia, bought in 2007 for R15.5-million.

They also own a property in Cowies Hill, an upmarket suburb of Pinetown, which they bought in February 2003 for R460000.

According to online property brokerage Private Property, the house is now valued at about R1.2-million.

Among the list of properties is also a 931m² home in Durban's Silverglen suburb, which was bought by Shauwn's late mother, Dumazile Flora Mkhize, an eThekwini ANC councillor who sat on several committees, including the economic development committee.

She bought the house in January 1995 for R300000. It is valued at almost R1-million today.

The unit will also establish the ownership of three vacant plots in Hillcrest, west of Durban, each with an estimated value of between R400000 and R580 000.

If the Mpisanes are convicted, the assets may be confiscated by the state.

Shauwn, who faces 53 charges of fraud, forgery and uttering , this week asked the court to set her bail at not more than R50000, as her "cash reserves [are] significantly depleted".

According to a court application, the asset forfeiture order was granted on January 31 against the Mpisanes and their companies, Zikhulise Cleaning, Maintenance and Transport, and Zikhulise Auto Restorers.

Some of the couple's exotic cars seized on Wednesday include a Lamborghini Murciélago valued at about R2.2-million and registered to one of the companies.

According to the unit, most of the couple's other cars seized were "freehold" with no money owed on them.

These include Shauwn's Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, valued at more than R3-million, her silver Rolls-Royce Ghost, worth more than R4.8-million, and her Porsche Cayenne Turbo, worth R860000.

S'bu's seized car collection includes a Rolls-Royce Phantom, estimated to cost R6-million, a Maserati Gran-Turismo, worth about R950000, and a Porsche Panamera Turbo, worth more than R900 000.

The couple have until February 28 to file replying affidavits to motivate why the order should not be made final. The case was postponed to April 29.

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