Johannesburg businessman Joe dos Santos doesn’t have kids — his cars are his children.
So he was devastated when the 2018 Maserati GranCabrio he fell in love with and bought for R1.3m in January was whisked out of his garage by Standard Bank last month.
Dos Santos had checked to ensure the vehicle was legit before he bought it from a dealer. However, unknown to him, a supposed bank clearance letter that a previous owner supplied, stating that the car had been fully paid off, was fake.
Standard Bank says Dos Santos “unfortunately bought a vehicle where there was a fraudulent change of ownership before he acquired it” and that the balance owed on the car is about R4m.
But Dos Santos is not giving up without a fight.
“We went to court on an urgent basis but the judge decided our matter lacked urgency and it was removed from the roll. We applied for a new date on the normal roll but haven’t received it yet,” he told the Sunday Times this week.
“I used to race and have been an avid collector over the decades. My other cars — mostly Lotus Esprits from the 1980s and a Porsche — are older cars. When I saw the Maserati I knew I had to have it. I work hard for my money and I do most of the work on my cars.
“It’s a dream car and my wife loved it but the main attraction for me was the low mileage of just more than 3,000km. If you go Google these cars in this model the prices are always around R1m. There was nothing suspicious about the price,” Dos Santos said.
“I’ve always loved cars and driving. Being inside a well-made machine is my passion. Standard Bank has repossessed a part of that dream.
“The entire situation is unfair. I paid a fair price for the car. The two agents who brokered the deal did everything expected of them. Now the bank has the car and I must look to the agents, who only received commission on the deal, to recover my R1.3m.”
He said he and the agents had already been corresponding with the bank when it obtained an ex parte court order allowing it to seize the car.
An ex parte application is a legal process where a court considers a case and issues an order without the knowledge or involvement of the respondent.
“In this case the bank had no need to do this,” Dos Santos said.
“We were already talking with them. In their application they said they were scared I would take the car out of the country.
“That verges on defamation. I am a businessman in good stead with no criminal history. Why would I leave my home, other cars and business in South Africa and flee with this car?”
Dos Santos bought the Maserati from a dealer’s agent for Luxurious Sport Auto in Brakpan.
“At the time we did everything we had to do. The agent, Gerhard Botha, had checked out both the Natis [National Traffic Information System] documents and a Standard Bank settlement letter that confirmed the vehicle was paid up to date — and assured me that all was good to purchase the car.”
Luxurious Sport Auto had taken the vehicle over from an agent of Pretoria-based Drive Nation dealers, who had bought it from Muhammad Osman Mansoor. When Drive Nation had tried to change the registration into its name, it discovered the vehicle had been flagged in Natis.
When the Drive Nation agent, Jaundré van Wyk, made inquiries “he was told that there were unpaid fines on the car. Nothing was said about the suspected earlier fraud or outstanding payment.”
The Sunday Times spoke to both Van Wyk and Botha this week.
Botha said Luxurious Sport Auto had done everything in its power to confirm that the sale was legal.
“Now the three of us have to face the trouble which was started by people we did business with in good faith,” Botha said.
“We got an HPI report — this is a hire purchase investigation — and this will show you whether the car was stolen, was involved in an accident or is still under financing. This report came back clear on the Maserati.”
He valued the vehicle at R1.6m-R1.7m.
Van Wyk said: “We asked Mansoor for a bank letter that confirmed the vehicle was paid up and he gave it to us. Now, months and several inquiries later, the bank says that letter was fake.”
Approached for comment, Mansoor denied forging the Standard Bank letter.
“When the original owner died, his life partner wanted to sell the car. The buyers wanted an affidavit that the car was in my name when I tried to sell it for her. She supplied the requested affidavit as well as the paid up letter from Standard Bank.”
The seller on whose behalf Mansoor claimed to be selling the car could not be reached for comment.
Standard Bank spokesperson Ross Linstrom told the Sunday Times that after the fraud, the vehicle had changed hands several times.
“The original fraud was perpetrated against Standard Bank, resulting in arrears on the asset being built up since 2021. The original purchase price back in 2020 was about R3m and the outstanding balance owed is therefore about R4m.
“While Standard Bank is sympathetic towards the situation in which Mr Dos Santos finds himself, the issue of ownership of the vehicle has been tested in the courts and found in Standard Bank’s favour.”
He did not have good news for Dos Santos.
“As the rightful owner of the vehicle, Standard Bank has taken possession of the asset. Mr Dos Santos should approach the broker or dealership from which he purchased the vehicle for legal recourse,” Linstrom said.
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