A lawyer who stole hundreds of thousands of rand from the proceeds of a client’s home sale has been ordered to repay more than R400,000 after an 18-year legal battle, with the Hawks describing the ruling as a significant victory in recovering the proceeds of commercial crime.
The Mthatha High Court granted a confiscation order under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA) on 24 July, compelling convicted attorney Vuyani Gwebindlala to compensate the victim R401,730.
The order follows Gwebindlala’s conviction for stealing trust money from a property transaction dating back to 2008.
Unlike a criminal sentence, a confiscation order under POCA is intended to strip offenders of the proceeds of their crimes while giving victims an opportunity to recover their financial losses.
While the Hawks used POCA to recover part of the victim’s losses in this case, victims of trust account theft may also be able to seek compensation from the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund, which protects members of the public against losses resulting from the theft of money held in attorneys’ trust accounts.
Paid in full
According to the Hawks, the buyer paid the full R780,000 purchase price into the law firm’s trust account, where it should have been safely held until the proceeds were paid to the seller. Instead, Gwebindlala allegedly diverted the money for his own benefit.
The transfer was handled by Gwebindlala and Associates, with the buyer paying the full purchase price into the firm’s trust account, as required under the sale agreement.
Although the property transfer was completed, Gwebindlala failed to pay the proceeds to the seller. Instead, he unlawfully diverted and misappropriated the trust funds for his own benefit.
When confronted by the complainant, he initially denied receiving the money before later admitting that he had invested the funds in the hope of recovering them before the transaction was finalised.
The complainant ultimately received only about R40,000, while the balance of the purchase price was unlawfully appropriated. The matter was reported to the police and referred to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit in Mthatha.
Following an investigation, Gwebindlala was arrested on 14 January 2019.
After numerous postponements and lengthy court proceedings, the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crime Court sentenced him on May 8 this year to pay a R600,000 fine or serve five years’ imprisonment.
This came together with a further five years’ imprisonment wholly suspended for five years on condition that he is not convicted of theft, fraud or another offence involving dishonesty during the suspension period.
The court also allowed him to pay the fine over five years, subject to an immediate payment of R10,000 followed by equal instalments.
One of many
The Hawks said the confiscation order obtained by its Priority Crime Specialised Investigation unit, working with the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit, marked the final stage of the financial recovery process.
It said the order reinforced the principle that criminals should not be allowed to benefit from the proceeds of crime while giving victims an opportunity to recover at least part of their financial losses.
The Mthatha matter is one of several recent cases involving attorneys convicted of stealing trust funds.
In July, former Johannesburg attorney Solomon Slom was sentenced to an effective 10 years’ imprisonment after being convicted on 145 counts of theft and 145 counts of money laundering for stealing about R39 million from a client trust account over several years.
In a separate case in Kimberley, former attorney and conveyancer Leanne Macleod was sentenced after stealing more than R4.6 million in client trust funds intended for property transactions by transferring the money into her personal account.
