Reigning Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions Orlando Pirates have launched an urgent court bid to freeze more than R20m allegedly siphoned from its coffers.
This comes after an internal investigation uncovered hundreds of suspicious transactions allegedly linked to the club’s former finance manager, Darryl Joselowsky.
The club wants four bank accounts linked to Joselowsky frozen, with a combined balance of R20.2m, while it seeks further information from Standard Bank about where the money went and who benefited from the transactions.
The application was brought by Orlando Pirates Football Club, Orlando Pirates Retailing and Orlando Pirates Properties against Joselowsky and Standard Bank.
The papers were filed at the Johannesburg high court on September 22 without notice to Joselowsky, with the club arguing that giving him advance warning could create an opportunity for the alleged proceeds to be dissipated.
Pirates’ commercial manager, Mpumelelo Khoza, said in an affidavit that Joselowsky had been employed by the club for more than 30 years. Khoza said his job placed him in a position of “extreme personal and fiduciary trust”.
“As finance manager, [Joselowsky] had complete responsibility for managing the bank accounts, payroll, supplier disbursements and financial ledgers.”
The affidavit says Joselowsky had the authority to capture, verify and release payment batches independently. This effectively allowed him to load beneficiary banking details, alter payment descriptions and execute electronic transfers without secondary authorisation.
The alleged irregularities came to light in July when the club was reviewing its management accounts and noticed that cash proceeds did not correspond with expected sales volumes.
Khoza said an internal accountant was instructed to review the financial statements, leading to what the club describes as an initial anomaly involving an inter-company payment.
“Payment references on bank statements reflected descriptions corresponding to legitimate supplier/rental expenses, but associated monetary figures did not tally with actual or expected supplier payments.”
The club subsequently approached Standard Bank about the flagged transactions.
In correspondence attached to the application, the bank warned Pirates that its monitoring systems had identified payments as potentially fraudulent, highlighting the use of Joselowsky’s operator code and discrepancies between beneficiary names and verified account holders.
Standard Bank requested confirmation from the club on whether the transactions had been authorised and whether the intended beneficiaries had received the money.
Three accounts were initially identified for verification: one registered to Nursarela Investments CC and two registered to Joselowsky. Pirates later identified a fourth account, also allegedly linked to Joselowsky.
The club says the bank’s investigation was significant because the transactions appeared to have been processed through a system that allowed a single operator to control several stages of the payment process.
The affidavit says meetings were subsequently held between the club’s executive team and representatives of Standard Bank’s forensic investigation team.
Standard Bank provided raw electronic data covering the Pirates Group bank accounts from 2016 to 2026. The club then instructed forensic accountant Alida Louise Jordaan to analyse the transactions.
According to Khoza, the analysis identified R20.2m in payments that Pirates alleges were unauthorised and fraudulent diversions into accounts controlled by Joselowsky.
Independent analysis conducted by Jordaan indicated that R20.2m was paid in direct, unauthorised and fraudulent diversions to accounts controlled by [Joselowsky]
— Pirates’ commercial manager Mpumelelo Khoza in affidavit
The affidavit says the broader transaction logs showed R43m moving from the club’s accounts into the four flagged Standard Bank accounts between September 29 2016 and August 25 2026.
“Independent analysis conducted by Jordaan indicated that R20.2m was paid in direct, unauthorised and fraudulent diversions to accounts controlled by [Joselowsky].”
The affidavit says payments were disguised through descriptions which appeared to relate to legitimate business expenses.
Khoza gives an example involving senior manager Nkosana Khoza, who had allegedly purchased a laptop for an employee and requested reimbursement. Pirates alleges Joselowsky paid the amount from petty cash but later processed an electronic transfer referencing Nkosana Khoza into his own personal account.
“The fraudulent mechanism was operated through systematic deception, including the use of fictitious supplier descriptions and redirection of reimbursements.”
The club’s forensic analysis also allegedly uncovered hundreds of smaller payments. A schedule prepared by Jordaan identified 742 separate payments totalling R8.5m where the payment descriptions allegedly falsely named beneficiaries.
“These payments were made by way of 742 separate payments of sufficiently small amounts that they would not attract the attention of the auditors.”
The affidavit alleges the investigation uncovered further instances of prima facie fraud involving payments to a previously dismissed employee. However, Khoza says the club had not yet been able to fully investigate those transactions.
Khoza points to what he describes as Joselowsky’s acquisition of foreign citizenship and an Austrian passport, as well as frequent overseas travel during the past year.
“I have reason to believe that [Joselowsky] recently acquired foreign citizenship of Austria and holds an Austrian passport.”
The club is seeking an order preventing Standard Bank from permitting withdrawals from the four accounts unless a combined balance of at least R20.2m remains available.
It also wants the bank to provide full electronic and physical statements, including contra-account numbers, branch codes and beneficiary identities for outward transfers.
The club intends instituting proceedings for payment of the R20.2m, interest and costs. It also indicated that criminal proceedings were being pursued.
“If an interim freezing order is refused, [Joselowsky] will dissipate the stolen proceeds across multiple local and offshore banking accounts. Once dissipated, recovery will be impossible, causally remote and an irreparable monetary loss to the [club].”
The Sunday Times tried for several weeks to pin down Joselowsky. He did not respond to multiple calls and messages to his registered phone numbers. The Sunday Times visited an estate in Glenhazel listed as his residence in an attempt to allow him to comment. But security personnel said they did not know anyone by that name.
Pirates did not respond to questions, including whether the club had opened a criminal case.
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