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Nic Georgiou is accused of trying to scuttle a potential class action suit against him. Picture: Moneyweb<\/p>\n
The gloves have come off in the application for leave to appeal by property magnate Nic Georgiou against a judgment that he illegally tried to scuttle a potential class action suit against him.<\/p>\n
In a strongly worded affidavit Jacques Theron, the attorney representing the Highveld Syndication Action Group (HSAG), responded to allegations made by former HSAG member Helgard Hancke in an application to become an intervening party in Georgiou\u2019s\u00a0application for leave to appeal<\/a>\u00a0against a\u00a0judgment in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n This judgment found that Georgiou acted unethically and abused the court process when he secretly settled the claims of the applicants of the class action application on the condition that they withdraw their application.<\/p>\n Hancke\u00a0stated in his affidavit<\/a>\u00a0that some facts in Theron\u2019s founding affidavit, on which the judgment was based, were false. He also strongly criticised Theron and said Theron was not acting in the best interest of investors and was only driving the process for his personal financial gain.<\/p>\n But in his opposing affidavit, Theron alleged that Hancke \u201cjumped ship\u201d after Georgiou secretly settled his wife\u2019s claim and that he was now waging a smear campaign to discredit Theron in an effort to turn investors against the class action.<\/p>\n Allegations denied<\/strong><\/p>\n Theron strongly denies Hancke\u2019s allegations. \u201cThe fact is that Hancke was paid an undisclosed amount to settle his (Hancke\u2019s wife\u2019s) claim, and that he is now actively campaigning against the class action and against me personally on social media and has even set up a disparaging website to \u2018stop Theron\u2019 and to \u2018prevent a national disaster awaiting investors\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Elsewhere in his affidavit, Theron states: \u201cIt is clear that Hancke is dancing to the tune of Georgiou, who is funding and using Hancke as another of his \u2018front persons\u2019 to further frustrate the class action litigation with delays and additional costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Theron also questioned why Hancke is applying to become an intervening party as his wife\u2019s claim was settled, and asked who was paying his legal fees.<\/p>\n Hancke\u2019s response<\/strong><\/p>\n In response to a draft version of this article, Hancke in turn strongly denied Theron\u2019s allegation that he \u201cjumped ship\u201d, stating that he decided to turn against the class action when believed it was no longer to the benefit of investors.\u00a0Hancke stated he was opposing the HSAG\u2019s application to have the section 155 Scheme of Arrangement set aside as it would be \u201cdevastating\u201d to investors.<\/p>\n He also rejected Theron\u2019s contention that Georgiou paid money to him in secret to settle his wife\u2019s claim or that he had received funding from Georgiou. Regarding legal fees, Hancke said that he instructed his attorneys and that he was responsible for the payment of the fees.<\/p>\n \u2018Orthotouch owns only two properties\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Another point of contention is Georgiou\u2019s settlements with investors. In his original affidavit, Hancke alleged that Theron was against investors settling their claims, as it was not in his financial interest to do so.<\/p>\n These settlements refer to a process through which Georgiou, via Orthotouch, offers to repay around 50% of the capital value of investors\u2019 original investments in the Highveld Syndication companies over a period of around three years.<\/p>\n Settlements are negotiated individually between investors and Orthotouch.<\/p>\n Theron denied that he was against the settlements\u00a0per se,<\/em>\u00a0but said investors should be aware that such agreements with only Orthotouch could severely damage investors\u2019 rights.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026Orthotouch is a public company, which currently owns a mere two adjacent properties as per the recent deeds search that my offices performed. Of the 50 properties it previously owned, 48 properties were sold or alienated. It is inconceivable that a company that bought two properties for R143 million, with a bond of R72 million in favour of Accelerate (a company steered by Georgiou\u2019s son, Michael Georgiou), can now pay monthly the approximately R10 million (an amounted hinted to by Georgiou to Stander, Hancke and myself)\u2026 from these two properties.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that investors who settled with Orthotouch would be left destitute if the company went into liquidation. Moneyweb sent questions to Georgiou to confirm or deny this statement, but he had not responded prior to publication.<\/p>\n 1% commission and the 800 HSAG settlement agreements<\/strong><\/p>\n Hancke also alleged in his original affidavit that Theron demanded a 1% negotiator\u2019s commission on settlements and that Georgiou refused to pay this commission. This demand, according to Hancke, resulted in Georgiou not settling the claims of around 800 HSAG members who were keen to settle.<\/p>\n Theron strongly denied he ever demanded a 1% commission for settlements. \u201cThe allegation that I demanded a 1% commission payment is a blatant lie. I never even mentioned payment of commission to me, let alone demanding some.\u201d<\/p>\n Theron said it was, in fact, Georgiou who did not want to sign the 800 settlements after the parties met for two days to do so. He also alleges that Hancke \u201cbetrayed\u201d the HSAG as he conveyed confidential strategies to Georgiou which resulted in Georgiou not signing the agreements.<\/p>\n The applicants<\/strong><\/p>\n Theron reaffirmed that the six applications in the certification application, who settled with Georgiou on condition that they withdraw their application, did not know each other.<\/p>\n Hancke contended in his affidavit that they did, in fact, know each other.<\/p>\n Theron said that \u201cthe only \u2018proof\u2019 that they knew each other, is a blank screen-print of a WhatsApp group of which two of them are members (with me and Visagie). They may have been aware of one another, but they certainly did not know each other \u2013 especially in the sense to have gone to the same attorney simultaneously with the same instructions to withdraw the litigation.\u201d<\/p>\n Publisher:\u00a0<\/a>MoneyWeb<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0Ryk van Niekerk\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0\u00a028 August 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HSAG lawyer claims applicant jumped ship after settling his wife\u2019s claim with Georgiou. Nic Georgiou is accused of trying to scuttle a potential class action suit against him. Picture: Moneyweb The gloves have come off in the application for leave to appeal by property magnate Nic Georgiou against a judgment that he illegally tried to… <\/p>\n