Explore the unfolding drama of the Banxso liquidation, where allegations of inflated legal fees and missing invoices raise serious questions about accountability and transparency in the insolvency process.
On Friday IOL reported on the founding affidavit filed in the Western Cape High Court by Kobus Senekal of FJ Senekal Incorporated on behalf of Flamingo Clearing House Limited, affected employees, and concurrent creditors of Banxso (Pty) Ltd (In Liquidation).
The first article dealt with the email in which Herman Bester campaigned for his own appointment as liquidator before the liquidation order was granted, the enquiry evidence of creditors who had settled their claims in full and final settlement but were nonetheless permitted to vote and requisition, and the systematic exclusion of the employees whose preferent claims might have provided the most effective check on what followed.
Today’s report examines the next set of allegations in the affidavit: legal costs, a taxation process the Taxing Master’s own certificate says was settled by consent instead of being properly opposed and scrutinised, pro forma advocates’ invoices used to support more than R11 million in legal fees, a R527,850 charge with no supporting invoice attached, and the application’s demand that the liquidators repay the loss personally.
