A magistrate presiding over the liquidation of controversial diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg’s company has asked the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to look into suspicious payments he made to politicians, police officers and government officials.
Liebenberg has been accused by the liquidators of his company Tariomix, better known by its trading name Forever Diamonds and Gold, of siphoning investors’ money to fund his lavish lifestyle, gambling, bribery, illegal diamond dealing and running a Ponzi scheme.
The money allegedly benefited prominent politicians, former president Jacob Zuma and a relative, and former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, as well as a senior member of law enforcement.
Liebenberg has denied the allegations in secret insolvency hearings held in the Kimberley magistrate’s court in the Northern Cape. He argued that he ran a legitimate business acting as a facilitator and financier for licensed diamond transactions.
However, presiding magistrate Petro Engelbrecht recommended to the NPA this month that it should refer the alleged criminal activities at Tariomix to the Hawks’ head in the province, Col Danie Bruwer.
Bruwer was in May accused by Liebenberg of carrying out a clandestine investigation into Tariomix. Liebenberg asked the speaker of parliament in a letter to look into what he perceived as a targeted assault on Tariomix by government institutions.
Engelbrecht said she was duty bound to advise of any possible criminal activity she found during the insolvent estate inquiry into Tariomix, which was placed in final liquidation by the Mahikeng high court in April.
After hearing the testimony of subpoenaed witnesses who were directors and shareholders, Liebenberg’s wife Desiree Liebenberg and lawyer Walter Niedinger last month, Engelbrecht believes law enforcement should investigate further.
During the hearings it emerged from Desiree’s diary, which was handed in, that she recorded payments made to Zuma, a Rejoice Zuma they believe to be his daughter, Magashule, who is well acquainted with Liebenberg, a Captain Mabena and a Mr Sibiya.
“The payments ... in the absence of any relevance that these individuals might have to the insolvent estate ... clearly constitute an offence of bribery and/or corruption,” said Engelbrecht.
“In respect of the evidence so far, there exists no lawful reasoning for payments from Tariomix and/or any of the other companies [to] these individuals.
“These payments were confirmed by Ms Liebenberg during her evidence. She admitted that certain payments were made to inter alia Mr Zuma’s daughter, Mr Zuma, Captain Mabena, Mr Sibiya and various other high-ranking politicians including Mr Ace Magashule and police officers. The diary handed in during the enquiry was authored by Ms Liebenberg in her own handwriting and she confirmed these facts,” said Engelbrecht.
Liebenberg met Zuma in April 2022 at Nkandla, where he presented him with two Nguni cattle. In October, during Zuma’s private prosecution bid against journalist Karyn Maughan and prosecutor Billy Downer, his legal team told the Pietermaritzburg high court that Liebenberg had raised R500,000 as security.
From the outset, the process has been biased ... Our legal teams are preparing a legal challenge based on the fact that the commissioner has clearly not only overstepped her mandate but been unduly influenced to issue a report without any form of objectivity ... We are fighting them on multiple legal fronts
— Louis Liebenberg
It was revealed in the bank statements attached to the provisional liquidation report that in September 2022 Liebenberg instructed that R3.2m be paid to Zuma’s legal team. Last year, when asked by News24 why Liebenberg made these payments for Zuma, his lawyer Niedinger said his client had established a “friendly relationship” with the former president.
It is unclear in Engelbrecht’s report what amounts were paid for Zuma’s benefit or any of the individuals mentioned in it. But already the report has ruffled feathers, with national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola and police minister Senzo Mchunu calling in the head of organised crime, Maj-Gen Shadrack Sibiya, to explain himself.
This was because a “Mr Sibiya” was mentioned in the Engelbrecht report. Police now believe this is a case of mistaken identity.
“Until a matter is formally brought to our attention, the SAPS cannot be drawn into commenting on this matter,” police said in a statement .
“The SAPS requires more clarity on who the individuals in the report are, and without that information being made clear, no comment can be made at this stage.”
Sibiya returned to the police force in 2022 after he was reinstated by the Labour Appeal Court following his 2015 dismissal based on trumped up charges by the then acting head of the Hawks, the disgraced Maj-Gen Berning Ntlemeza.
The Sunday Times understands that Liebenberg claims that the Sibiya referred to in the diary is a Pastor Sibiya who introduced him to Zuma. Attempts to track this pastor down, as well as a Rejoice Zuma, proved fruitless this week.
Zuma did not respond to a query sent via a senior member of the MK Party.
Magashule could not be reached for comment.
On Saturday Liebenberg, whose house in Cape Town and offices in Kempton Park were raided by the sheriff earlier this year, confirmed he had seen the interim report, adding that “these observations are under her empowerment as a commissioner and amount to no legally binding order of a court”.
“From the outset, the process has been biased ... Our legal teams are preparing a legal challenge based on the fact that the commissioner has clearly not only overstepped her mandate but been unduly influenced to issue a report without any form of objectivity,” he said.
“We are fighting them on multiple legal fronts including the freezing of 18 unrelated companies' bank accounts where they secretly approached a judge for an ex-parte application spanning over 3,000 pages without giving us the right to defend.”
In relation to the payments, he said he had no undue power over people. “My friendships have always been just that, friendships. For me to have helped anyone is of my own accord. However I will say that the magistrate has gotten it completely wrong on all levels and the court challenge about to be launched should reflect that clearly.”
Witnesses who testified during the hearings claimed that Liebenberg would move money from a company in liquidation to numerous other entities or people.
They testified that instructions for movement of any monies between the companies came from Liebenberg. It was also claimed that even though the South African Diamond & Precious Metals Regulator had cancelled diamond licences for the company in July, a sale of R3.2m was done without the required licence.
“During June 2021 and when the application for the freezing order of the South African Revenue Services was lodged, Mr Liebenberg requested his personnel to open new companies and bank accounts to assist Mr Liebenberg to continue the business operations of Tariomix through the affiliated companies,” said Engebrecht.
“Mrs Liebenberg confirmed that the person who is running all these businesses is Mr Liebenberg and he decides how the funds will flow and that he is in control of all the decisions.”
This week, workers at Liebenberg’s diamond mine in Koingnaas in the Namakwa district of the Northern Cape said they had not received their salaries, while others said they have been waiting for payment for their diamond extraction in April.
The sheriff was sent by the liquidators in search of movable and immovable assets funded by Tariomix investors.
Liquidators argued that the company should have been liquidated because it was insolvent and claimed that Liebenberg had been hiding assets from them.
But Liebenberg disputed any bankruptcy claims, arguing that the liquidators had not provided any factual evidence to support their allegations. He insisted that he had no creditors and paid his debts as and when they were due.
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