Travails keep piling up for the Bobroffs

ANT KATZ

Judges at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last week Thursday made a suspension judgment, ruling that personal injury lawyers Ronald and Darren Bobroff, who absconded to Australia, be suspended from practising as attorneys and conveyancers.

The Bobroffs face charges of fraud and money laundering, relating to suspected infringements in their handling of Road Accident Fund (RAF) claims.

Right: Darren Bobroff and his father, Ronald outside the North Gauteng High Court last month. They promised to hand themselves in the following week but absconded to Australia 

The judgment is temporary and is pending the determination of the applications of the Law Society and Mathew and Jennifer Graham. Matthew Graham was injured in a car accident and the Grahams are first and second applicants in the case in the High Court against the Bobroffs. They applied to have Ronald and Darren Bobroff barred from practising as attorneys pending disciplinary proceedings against them, by either the Law Society of the Northern Provinces or the High Court.

The Grahams, who were represented by the Bobroffs in a claim against the RAF, allege that the Bobroffs deceived, defrauded and overcharged them – charges which the Bobroffs have denied.

George van Niekerk, a director at attorneys ENS Africa who acted on behalf of the Grahams, said the couple went to the Bobroffs after Matthew Graham was injured in an accident. They wanted the Bobroffs to pursue a claim against the RAF on their behalf.

While the legally allowable limit on contingency fee cases is 25 per cent of the sum awarded, “the Bobroff’s collected a payment from the Road Accident Fund and picked a fee of 40 per cent of what they collected”, Van Niekerk told the court. 

That, he said, was way above the limit “prescribed in the Contingency Fees Act” and it became clear “that the Bobroffs were systematically overreaching their clients, in other words they were stealing from their clients under the guise of taking fees”.

Van Niekerk told EWN last week Thursday that the Grahams felt vindicated that the Bobroffs had finally been suspended. He said the fugitive attorneys had taken an estimated R500 000 from the Grahams’ claim and that it had taken the Grahams “about five years” to get to this point.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported in “Fugitive Bobroffs house up for rent” last weekend that while Ronald Bobroff was “evading arrest in Australia, his home in Victory Park was available for rent at R30 000 a month. SA Jewish Report found out that it is actually Darren’s house. “It’s advertised as ideal for an entertainer,” the newspaper said.

Jewish Report Online carried the story two weeks ago that the head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Shaun Abrahams, had expressed concern that the Bobroffs had evaded justice and promised to give further details this week.

ABOVE: The Victory Park house of Darren Bobroff has been advertised for R30 000 rent a month, unfurnished. The five bedroom, four-and-a half-bathroom home is listed for immediate occupation.

“I can reassure the public that the matter is receiving the requisite attention from my office and that of other law enforcement agencies,” Abrahams said, according to the African News Agency (ANA).

Abrahams added that the NPA was working very closely with the various enquiries that are taking place. “I will address the issue in greater detail in two and a half weeks’ time when I intend giving a press briefing in respect of the work of the National Prosecuting Authority.”

The NPA inquiry adds to the long list of current investigations against the Bobroffs which include those of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks); the Law Society; the Curator of their now defunct legal practice; the Justice and Correctional Services Department; and the SA Revenue Services (SARS).

The Road Accident Fund has also been combing through all their prior cases which involved the Bobroffs and in the first week laid almost 20 charges with the NPA, claiming that the errant lawyers had billed them, the RAF, for appointments supposedly held with clients – who subsequently denied that those meetings in fact took place.

Ronald and Darren Bobroff made a name for themselves as personal injury lawyers for those injured in car accidents.

ANA confirmed from Abrahams’ media briefing that the Bobroffs had disappeared ahead of handing themselves over to the Hawks. 

Abrahams and Justice Minister Michael Masutha, however, had declined to answer questions as to whether South African authorities were asking Australia to extradite the pair – even though the Hawks and Interpol had confirmed this earlier in the same week.

A Reuters correspondent told Abrahams in the media briefing that this was unacceptable. “There are hundreds of people (affected) and possibly tens of millions of rands lost… It is, dare I say nonsense,” the reporter remarked.