The tycoon, his ‘girlfriend’ and the R40m jewel heist

The glamorous 22-year-old alleged girlfriend of an upmarket jeweller has been accused of spiriting away luxury watches and other jewellery worth about R40m in an audacious series of heists to hide them from liquidators for her boss.

The Randburg magistrate’s court heard on Friday how staff at the Umhlanga branch of Arthur Kaplan jewellers were allegedly “deceived” by employee Ammaarah Ismail into handing over stock worth millions of rands at a BP service station in Verulam after telling them a robbery was imminent.

Ismail is also accused of deceiving an employee at the company’s Eastgate store into believing she had been authorised to remove high-value jewellery and watches. More stock was taken in a similar way from the company’s World’s Finest Watches shop in Nelson Mandela Square and Sandton City Diamond Walk store, according to court documents.

A substantial inventory of missing items, supplied by liquidators, includes diamond tennis bracelets, rings, necklaces and luxury watches including Tissot, Longines, Tag Heuer and Seiko brands. A Hublot watch valued at R408,000 and a diamond ring worth R823,999 are listed among the items missing.

His girlfriend is in possession of tens of millions of rands of jewellery and is on the run 

—  Laila Motala, liquidator 

Tensions over the alleged heists came to a head when Arthur Kaplan director Hoosein Mohamed was arrested on June 1 after allegedly assaulting and pulling a gun on the liquidator Laila Motala, daughter of controversial liquidator Enver Motala.

Mohamed, 36, is in custody pending a ruling next week on his bail application after a marathon hearing in the Randburg magistrate’s court on Friday.

He is charged with assault.

Motala’s affidavit opposing bail, which was read out in court, said that Ismail is Mohamed’s “personal assistant and girlfriend” and was working with him to retrieve the jewellery before it could be sold to pay creditors.

Mohamed had denied all charges, as well as Motala’s allegations that he was involved in the theft of the jewellery.

“I was shocked. I ran the company for six months and can tell you that the company doesn’t even own R20m stock in total,” he told the court. “Ammaarah was my PA, not my romantic partner, and I did not secure her services to remove jewellery.”

The Sunday Times tried to reach Ismail for a response. All numbers linked to her had been switched off except one, which a woman answered but hung up. Ismail’s home in Bramley was deserted.

Motala’s affidavit said that on June 1 she visited Arthur Kaplan (AK) head office in Sandton where Mohamed “assaulted me in a fit of unprovoked rage, went on a screaming tirade threatening to kill me and ... violently slamming me against the wall, and thereafter pointing his firearm in my face and threatened to kill me”.

She said that hours after the assault and Mohamed’s arrest, she received a call from an employee who said “he had learned that Ammaarah Ismail, Hoosein’s girlfriend and also employed at AK, had orchestrated the theft of some high value jewellery and luxury watches from the Eastgate store. I started investigating this and was shocked to find that Hoosein and Ammaarah had been calling staff at some of our branches and instructed them to remove high value jewellery and luxury watches and hand it over to Ammaarah and Hoosein [before his arrest].

“After I uncovered more detail about the removal of watches and jewellery at other stores, I instructed my lawyers to move an urgent application to the High Court, Johannesburg, for an order permitting the search of various premises I had details of, linked to some of the individuals who removed them. The order was granted. We failed, despite our best efforts, to recover any of the stolen jewellery or watches.”

Motala said in her affidavit that when she arrived at Mohamed’s home in Morningside with the sheriff and her own security, “we encountered the twin brother of Hoosein and approximately 17 security guards, most of them armed and some carrying machine guns openly”.

“It was a chilling experience and I was, to say the least, petrified. Although we were unable to recover any jewellery, we found an assortment of weapons including guns, assault knives and a crack pipe.”

Motala said she opened a charge of theft at the Sandton police station on June 6.

“To date I have not heard a word from police. Considering that we know the identities of the thieves, have a lot of CCTV footage and have many witnesses, it is disappointing and upsetting that the police remain passive and disinterested in the matter.”

She said in her affidavit it was not in the interest of justice for Mohamed to be given bail.

“His girlfriend is in possession of tens of millions of rands of jewellery and is on the run. One of the properties searched was her family’s home. We were told she had gone to KZN. If he is released on bail, it cannot be responsibly discounted that he will join her, fleeing justice.”

Earlier this week, Motala told the Sunday Times that Arthur Kaplan, along with sister company Natal Wholesale Jewellers (NWJ) under the Luxe Holdings entity, went into liquidation on December 13 last year, and she was appointed lead liquidator on December 22.

After weekly financial reports stopped coming, and following complaints by staff, Motala said she asked Mohamed to transfer AK funds into the estate account managed by her company but was told there was no money to be transferred.

She visited the company’s head office in Sandton on June 1 with six security guards and told former AK CEO, Althea Grewar, that she, Mohamed and Ismail had been fired. Ismail then called Mohamed, who quickly arrived and assaulted her, she said.

Mohamed told the court on Friday that he had been confronted by security guards at the office entrance, had tumbled to the ground during a scuffle in which his firearm had fallen out of its holster and was then taken from him. 

“At no point did I aim it at anyone or threaten anyone with it,” he told the court. 

He said he had received a threatening call from Enver Motala the day before the alleged assault, demanding that he pay him R500,000.

“I refused and said the company does not have the funds available and he threatened me,” he told the court. 

Motala confirmed it was her, not her father, who had sent Mohamed a letter asking him to pay R250,000 in legal fees. The other R250,000 was payment owed by NWJ, she told the court.

Mohamed said he received a call from a hysterical staff member the next day, saying that Motala was in the office “throwing laptops around”. He had gone to help. 

“When I entered the office, security manhandled me. I did not assault the complainant.”

He said the weapons found in his house were part of his legal collection and his interest in antique swords. He did not respond to the allegation of a crack pipe.

He described the staffer who alleged to have been threatened as “a dishonest employee” with an axe to grind, and claimed the two police officers who said they had seen him pointing his firearm were not speaking the truth. 

He said he was AK’s biggest creditor, that he had invested R3.9m in the business and was owed R11.5m post-liquidation. He said there was “major corruption with the liquidator”, a charge Motala denies. 

Investigating officer Det Sgt Aubrey Tshisane told the court there were no previous or pending cases against Mohamed and he was not a flight risk. He said Mohamed was the legal owner of nine firearms which had all been confiscated and he had no intention of opposing bail. 

Prosecutor Yusuf Baba called Motala’s lawyer Ian Small Smith, who was in court on a watching brief, to testify.

Small Smith said he had been called by Enver Motala shortly after his daughter’s alleged assault, and he sent clerks to help her lay a charge at the Sandton police station.

“Ammaarah is a child. So that weekend I reached out to her mother and asked her to tell Ammaarah to contact me and return the jewellery and that her co-operation would be viewed greatly in her favour,” Small Smith testified.

“She called me back and said she has no jewellery. I told her she is being unfair to herself and that she ... needs to get herself a lawyer. I never heard from her again.” 

Small Smith told the court: “We have given up the names of the suspects, the various state witnesses who implicate them, and video recordings. We stressed to the police that it is critical to act fast because of the massive value of the items that are easily disposable. And to this date, the complainant has not heard a word.” 

Police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed a case of fraud had been opened.

During cross-examination, Mohamed’s lawyer Laurance Hodes stated: “My information is that [Motala] is a front for her father, who was struck off the roll.”

Magistrate Liesel Davis said she would rule on bail on Thursday. 

Luxe Holdings director Thulani Ngubane said the liquidation process had been badly managed by staff, and he did not condone the violent incidents.

“In December we called the staff in because of complaints and stock going missing. We had everyone take polygraph tests and we heard how some staffers were in fear.”