The arrest of a Pakistani man who was granted urgent interim court orders to take control of multimillion-rand businesses based on allegedly falsified documents has exposed a “concerning” loophole in the Gauteng high court's online case filing system.
Hafiz Saddiq was arrested on Friday last week after a six-month investigation.
It is believed he was granted at least one interim order based on:
- Using lawyers' practice numbers — without their knowledge — to launch urgent court applications,
- Working with corrupt officials in the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) to access businesses' private details,
- Filing falsified sales and shareholder agreements.
An order to take control of Reshma Traders, owners of Deshai Bazaar, was granted on February 23 despite Saddiq’s documents being riddled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and containing allegedly forged commissioner of oath stamps and illegible CIPC documents.
Attorney Alex Mashishi, who is cited in the papers as Saddiq’s lawyer, says the signature on the document is not his and that he has never worked for him.
Saddiq claimed in his successful application that Reshma Traders owner Zakir Hossain had reneged on a R23m sales agreement.
The import-export company is believed to have been targeted because it had both South African and offshore bank accounts, which the syndicate allegedly used launder and divert money into its own accounts.“The businesses all had the necessary Sars and Reserve Bank approvals for large overseas financial remittances,” said a police officer.
The order gave Saddiq ownership of all of Hossain’s stock, his shop, salespoint machines, warehouses, vehicles, computers and business insurance policies believed to be worth millions.
Organised crime detectives are said to be investigating at least four other similar cases involving Saddiq.
The online case filing system was first piloted in the North and South Gauteng high courts in 2019 and was officially launched in January 2020. It is used only in Gauteng, which has SA’s busiest high court rolls.
Justice ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said this week that electronic documents filed on the system, “are regarded as the originals in terms of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act”.
He admitted that fraudulently obtained orders had occurred in the past “on extremely rare occasions”.
Phiri said the system’s fail safes included reviews being conducted on submitted documents to ensure compliance, checks done to see whether parties’ names captured in the system correspond with the names on initiating documents and that these documents were signed by the legal representative.
“Lawyers must also register on the system, with the applicant being verified against the Legal Practice Council [LPC] database. Only registered people can file documents on the system,” he said. “Other features include unique court stamps with security features and the system identifying the registered person who uploaded documents. Uploaded documents display a generated time and date.”
However, Wits law professor Stephen Tuson said while the new system was extremely effective in streamlining court processes, there were “growing concerns” about it.
“The previous system required original documents be submitted in person to the registrar, who opened an actual court file, stamped and signed the documents by hand, ensured procedures were correctly followed in filing them and issued handwritten court case numbers.
“Lawyers then uploaded the original documents onto the previous system and created a virtual casefile, which the sheriff accessed to deliver the documents physically to all parties. That system required lots of work, but it functioned well.
“The problem with the new system is you don’t have to appear in court in person, you register yourself virtually on the system and scan documents in yourself, with them sent back to you with an electronic registrar's stamp and case number. There is no way for registrars to verify the documents as originals or who the people filing the documents really are.
“With the old system, you could see a pen had been used to sign documents. These days, with the existing technology, signatures can easily be Photoshopped.”
Persistent load-shedding has made the new system critical for the court to function.
Saddiq was arrested last week Friday in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, and charged for allegedly plotting the kidnapping and murder of national crime intelligence officers, and a Pretoria-based private risk analyst, Reshad Ismail.
Saddiq, who claims in court papers to work for the SAPS national crime intelligence unit, appeared in the Randburg magistrate's court on Friday on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, intimidation, extortion and impersonating a police crime intelligence officer. The case was remanded until tomorrow.
Saddiq’s lawyer, Werner Blenker, declined to comment.
Hossain discovered his business was hijacked only when a Johannesburg central police station detective served the court order on his manager.
A video in the Sunday Times' possession shows Saddiq in Hossain’s office with the order, claiming he is the new owner, that he is owed R23m and that he works for crime intelligence.
Hossain’s lawyer, Ajay Chargan, said they had no idea how the matter had managed to get through the court system.
“It was done on an urgent basis without us being in court, which led to the order. The fact is, there was never a sales agreement. That purported agreement is bogus.
“This week we obtained a court order which overturns Saddiq’s seizure of the business.”
The Sunday Times has seen the order.
It has also seen the documents Saddiq used to get the order to take control of Reshma Traders, including its FNB business bank account and its HBZ and Habib Bank accounts in Dubai.
Attorney Mashishi said: “The first time I knew that I was [Saddiq's] apparent attorney, was when I received an email from the court through the court online system alerting me to the matter. I have never seen nor signed a single page of this application. I know nothing of the so-called sale agreement, have never seen an original document in this matter and never been briefed by Saddiq.
“He uses my firm’s name but completely misspells it. I am Mashishi and Associates not Mashishi and Accaciates.”
He said he had represented a businessman who had launched a legal challenge against Saddiq and his associates for attempting to take over his Meyerton business in 2017 in a similar manner.
“I had another case against him in Vereeniging. We won those cases. Saddiq would have lifted my details from those court case documents. Criminals have mastered abusing weaknesses within the system.
“The registrar would not be aware. He just sees a lawyer’s name of the papers and assumes it is legitimate. That’s the problem with the new system. There is no way of verifying original documents and certifications.”
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