Husband in the dark about ’attorney’s’ double life

28 April 2017 - 08:47 By ARON HYMAN and JUSTIN DEFFENBACHER
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

When career con artist Michayla Mentoor wanted to rent her neighbour’s Cape Town home, he said “God” had warned him against it.

But heaven’s communication channels did not work so well for Mentoor’s husband, a pastor.

Speaking to The Times this week, her husband, Carl Mentoor, said his 48-year-old wife had kept him in the dark while she masqueraded as a lawyer and a consultant for the Department of Trade and Industry. “How could I live for 10 years with all of that stuff?” he said.

“She is my wife and I love her, so how would we have allowed her to do things like this if we knew? “She could out-think me easily.

  • Businesswoman in court for alleged fraud after being on run for over two yearsA businesswoman who was nabbed by the Hawks at a hideout in a posh Cape Town suburb after being on the run for more than two years appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Wednesday facing multiple charges of alleged fraud.

I’m an ordinary oke with a matric. I thought she was an attorney.” Michalya Mentoor appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court yesterday on multiple fraud charges.

She is accused of conning several small-business owners in KwaZuluNatal out of more than R2-million. But she has been on the run from police since 2013.

  • Bishopscourt 'hideout' raided by Hawks on trail of alleged conwomanA woman who allegedly promised small business owners she had an inside track to get them government funding - for a fee - has been arrested in one of South Africa's poshest suburbs‚ police said on Friday.

This was after the Randburg Magistrate’s Court issued a warrant for her arrest on fraud charges involving R60-million. She was arrested on April 20 at what the Hawks described as her “hideout” in the posh Cape Town suburb of Bishopscourt, where the Gupta brothers also have a home.

Mentoor’s elderly Bishopscourt neighbour, who did not want to give his name, said he had turned down a R35 000-a-month rental offer from Mentoor.

“Michayla offered to rent my home. When I mentioned we needed to work with a listing agent, she refused and asked for the agreement to be done privately,” he said. “God told me something was not right.” Her other neighbours had no idea police had recently arrested an alleged fraudster in one of the suburb’s quietest streets.

Mentoor’s life on the run came to an end after a manager at her company, Reign Investment Holdings, went to the police to report she was allegedly promising to fasttrack small businesses’ DTI grant applications for a fee. He said she had not paid employees, including her own daughter, for months.

The manager said Mentoor had “more balls than 10 men”. She “lied to her staff, and she’s been lying to her family for all this time”.

Mentoor’s criminal record dates back to 1993, when she was convicted of “practising as an attorney when not authorised to do so”. Her record includes numerous other convictions for fraud. Mentoor remains in custody until her bail hearing on May 3.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now