High court blocks fresh bid by murder accused Mark Lifman to travel abroad

Cape Town businessman Mark Lifman, who faces a slew of charges including murder, has failed in a renewed bid to change his bail conditions so he can travel to Turkey, Dubai, China and Hong Kong. 

Lifman — an alleged underworld figure — and several co-accused are yet to stand trial in connection with the 2017 murder of “steroid kingpin” Brian Wainstein in Constantia.

They also face charges of conspiracy to murder and contraventions of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. A trial date has been set for April 24 2024.

Lifman, who faces nine counts, was arrested on December 22 2020 after handing himself over to the police. 

Earlier this month he approached the high court in Cape Town, seeking to amend his bail conditions, particularly the return of his passport, to explore business opportunities in Turkey, Dubai, China and Hong Kong. The court heard he had, from 2004 to 2020, travelled abroad to arrange for the import of clothing or textiles that he could only purchase after personally examining the ranges. 

He was initially released on bail of R100,000 and ordered to surrender his passport.

Lifman proposed to the high court he pay an additional R150,000 in cash for bail and have his passport returned. Alternatively, he sought the return of his passport a week before travelling, on condition he furnish police with proof of his itinerary, destination address and surrender the passport on his return to South Africa. 

The state opposed his application. 

Lifman failed, in a previous court application in November 2021, to obtain his passport to take up a job as a consultant at Cisily Textiles in Turkey. 

He raised two grounds in the latest application, arguing there would be an inordinate delay before the trial against him commenced. It was initially set down to be heard from February 2022, then July 2023 and now in 2024. 

Second, he argued that he had a complete defence against all the charges preferred against him, after getting a digital forensic expert to comb through phone data the state relied on to establish his physical whereabouts. In addition, his lawyer had compared original recordings of intercepted phone calls with transcriptions and identified discrepancies in the state’s case. 

The investigating officer said a major concern after Lifman’s initial arrest was his “ability and substantial means” to flee the country to a jurisdiction where there would be difficulty securing his return to South Africa. That concern was largely overcome after he surrendered his passport.

On the issue of delays, it was argued that Covid-19 had adversely affected the functioning of the high court and caused a huge backlog. It was disputed that the state’s case was weak.

Counsel for the state argued there was a poor level of co-operation between Turkey and Dubai that could, should he abscond, lead to a drawn out extradition procedure. A case in point was fruitless efforts to extradite the Gupta brothers from Dubai. 

“In the present matter, this court has been informed that there is another accused the state is struggling to extradite to this country to face charges with [Lifman]. That person is based in Turkey, where [he] intends to travel,” reads the judgment handed down on Monday by judge James Lekhuleni. 

“It is not clearly explained why an agent or proxy cannot explore these [business] opportunities on behalf of [Lifman]. Based on my assessment, I seriously doubt [his] genuineness and authenticity ... There is no reason [Lifman] cannot wait for the matter to be finalised before pursuing his business interests.” 

Lifman, the judge added, had not filed a confirmatory affidavit from his expert to substantiate his allegations that, from the expert report, the evidence against him was wanting. 

The application was dismissed. 

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