Deeds Office probe extended to two law firms

Two law firms are being investigated as part of the probe by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform into irregular and fraudulent property transactions by the Deeds Office in Pretoria.

And the Special Investigating Unit has joined the Hawks, the elite police crime-fighting unit, in investigating the suspect transactions.

In a letter to the Law Society of the Northern Provinces last week, the chief registrar of deeds, Sam Lefafa, asked the society to start an investigation into the conduct of Nam-Ford Attorneys and take the necessary disciplinary action in the event of any impropriety.

Frik Loubser, a director of Nam-Ford, said yesterday the firm had responded to Lefafa's letter to the law society by informing the Deeds Office that its "unsubstantiated and potentially defamatory allegations... are devoid of all truth".

"The allegations made against Nam-Ford by the Deeds Office were made with reckless and improper motive. We are taking the necessary legal action to clear our name."

Thinus Grobler, a director of the law society, was yesterday unable to confirm whether it had received a letter from the Deeds Office.

However, Grobler confirmed that it was investigating the conduct of Peet Viljoen Attorneys, the Pretoria-based firm that was allegedly involved in the fraudulent transfer of 33 properties owned by the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC) to private companies.

Peet Viljoen Attorneys was allegedly the corresponding attorney for Maringa Attorneys.

Grobler was unable to confirm if the law society was investigating Maringa Attorneys.

But he said the law society was very concerned about the reports emanating from the Deeds Office investigation and would certainly investigate the firms involved.

"I can't give specifics but regard these issues as very serious. There must be some corruption if it involved attorneys," he said.

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform did not respond to a request for comment.

In his letter Lefafa told the law society that Nam-Ford had lodged various batches of more than 188 deeds "riddled with irregularities and some of these transactions were registered regardless of the serious defects in contravention of the provisions of the Deeds Registries Act as well as the Section Titles Act".

"The (Deeds Office) has since impounded these deeds as they constitute evidential material and are relevant to criminal investigations that are being conducted by both the Special Investigating Unit as well as the Hawks," he wrote.

Musa Zondi, a spokesman for the Hawks, said yesterday that the Special Investigating Unit would "do the legwork" and then pass this information to the Hawks to do the criminal investigation.

The department confirmed earlier this month that Pogiso Mesefo, the registrar of the Deeds Office in Pretoria, had been suspended.

Business Report

Posted at 09:12AM Jul 29, 2010 by Editor in Industry  |  Comments[3]