Fund manager and fast-car fanatic Cobus Kellermann is to be investigated by the Serious Economic Offences unit after allegations that he is involved in an international criminal financial operation. Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed yesterday that the unit would look into the South African leg of the multibillion-dollar operation.An investigation by OffshoreAlert, a media organisation that reports mostly on financial centres overseas, fingered the Belvedere Management Group, owned by Kellermann and an Irish businessman, for allegedly misappropriating millions of dollars through a web of offshore companies and for conducting transactions to strip out cash and artificially inflate assets.Several attempts to get comment from Kellermann yesterday were unsuccessful.Run from Mauritius, Belvedere was already being investigated by British and US authorities.According to its website, the group is involved in financial services including fund administration, stock-broking, life insurance and asset management around the world. It says it administers numerous hedge funds.Kellermann's Facebook page, which is open to the public, reveals that he is a car lover with a taste for expensive and exotic machines and the finer things in life.Two weeks ago, the 38-year-old father posted a picture with the question "Hmmmm. Fancy a spin in Bruce Willis's Dodge Charger? It'll cost you £105 000."But by late yesterday, as news of the questionable business operation surfaced, irate people were writing on his page demanding to know what he had done with investors' money.Frank Jordaan posted: "Where is the investors' money???".Chris Le Grange had advice for Kellermann: "If I were you I would make my timeline private - now that you are in the news . again".According to his Facebook profile, Kellermann worked at Clarus Asset Management, but the company would not answer whether he was still at Clarus. The Times was referred to Contego Asset Management.Contego CEO JC Louw insisted that Kellermann had never been a key person there: "He has never been an employee or held a directorship here, and will not in future.""People are jumping to conclusions and the facts are incorrect," Louw said.Met Collective Investments, which has been linked to Kellermann through Clarus Capital, a Cape Town unit trust investment manager, said its appointment of Clarus (to manage eight trust funds) had since been terminated and Contego Asset Management appointed instead."We confirm that Cobus Kellermann is not a director, key individual, employee or representative of Contego and has no authority to manage any of the aforementioned funds," MetCI said.Lerato Mametse, spokesman for MetCi, said it did not believe any unit holders' investments in the Clarus co-branded funds had been prejudiced.Caroline da Silva, deputy registrar of financial advisory and intermediary services at the Financial Services Board, said though Kellermann's Belvedere Management Group was not registered with the board, Kellermann was listed as key in a number of South African financial service providers.Da Silva said they were aware of the allegations being made against Kellermann "and we will liaise with the relevant parties to determine how this impacts on [Kellermann's] fitness and properness locally to be a key individual at a financial services provider, which [demands] honesty, integrity and qualifications".The board's spokesman, Tembisa Marele, said though it did not investigate ponzi schemes, which fell outside its mandate, regulatory action could be taken if it found it had given an operating licence to a company involved in such a scheme. Its licence could be withdrawn and any criminal activity referred to the relevant authorities"We regulate only companies we have provided licences to. If such companies are not regulated by us then we refer them to the Reserve Bank and the National Consumer Commission," she said...