Bobroff money frozen in Israel

ANT KATZ

The Hawks and Interpol say they are trying to do the same with “a lot of (Bobroff) funds scattered all over the world”.

And the Hawks say extradition proceedings to bring the father and son, who are living in Australia, back to South Africa to face the music, are already in motion.

Personal injury lawyers Ronald and Darren Bobroff fled to Australia a day before they had agreed to hand themselves over to the Hawks in March last year after irregularities were uncovered at their legal practice.

They have since both been struck from the role of attorneys in South Africa and provisionally sequestrated. The SA Law Society has advised the Australian authorities of this.

Ronald has previously claimed to be a member of the Israeli Bar. However, in 2014, the deputy general manager of the Israel Bar Association, Uri Elfersy, put paid to that suggestion by issuing a statement that Bobroff had never been admitted as a member. He did, in fact, write and fail the Israeli Bar exam in 1988.

The AFU is a division of the National Prosecuting Authority. NPA national spokesman, Luvuyo Mfaku, told the SA Jewish Report this week that the Israeli financial authorities recently “became aware of the suspicious movement of money” in the Bobroffs’ accounts. They then put a temporary freeze on the accounts and informed their South African counterparts.

Asked if there were any other assets elsewhere, Mfaku would not deny this, but said he could not comment on any other assets presently under investigation.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, however told the SA Jewish Report that “there are a lot of funds scattered all over the world”. The South African Police are working with Interpol and trying to trace and secure these, he said.

The Bobroffs face a range of civil and criminal charges in South Africa, including illegal fee agreements, tax evasion, theft, money laundering and fraud. Since they fled South Africa there have been multiple investigations into the web of deceit they allegedly left behind. These criminal investigations were conducted by the Law Society, South African Revenue Service, the Road Accident Fund, the Hawks and the NPA, which have amassed an estimated amount of ill-gotten gains exceeding a billion rand.

Not to mention medical aids and members of the community who have enormous civil claims against the pair, should they be found guilty.

The North Gauteng High Court heard last month that the R101 million was being held in cash in two separate bank accounts – one in Ronald and the other in Darren’s names – in Israel. 

The freezing order “was the result of excellent co-operation between both the South African and Israeli authorities”, said Mfaku. The AFU believes that “the funds in the bank accounts are, in all probability, the proceeds of unlawful activities, namely, fraud and/or theft and/or money laundering”, he said.

“The money is currently kept safe in Israel until the finalisation of forfeiture proceedings,” which, said Mfaku, was “in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act”.

The Bobroffs had also invested a substantial amount of money from their now defunct legal practice, Ronald Bobroff and Partners (RBP) in a separate Israeli investment account. “The account was, however, not reflected as a trust creditor account in RBP’s trust accounting records,” said Mfaku.

In fact, he added: “The money in the investment account provided the Bobroffs with an opportunity to avoid the taxation of the interest earned on the monies invested, as well as with an opportunity to launder funds without being detected.”

The R100 million freeze order was granted “under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, which provides that property that is used to commit a crime can be frozen, while the NPA applies for a final order to forfeit the money to the state,” said Mfaku.

Interpol’s world headquarters in Lyon were unable to confirm whether extradition proceedings were underway.