In Pretoria, South Africa, businessman Hangwani Morgan Maumela filed an urgent application with the High Court, seeking to halt the sale and transfer of a Ferrari SF90 hybrid supercar. The vehicle is part of property subject to preservation measures in an investigation by South Africa’s Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into the alleged looting of funds from Tembisa Hospital, TimesLIVE reports.
Jacobus Gideon Louw van Wyk, the SIU-appointed curator, received permission from the Special Tribunal to sell the vehicle. Maumela is acting in the case as a trustee of the MHR Maumela Family Trust and claims that the curator began the sale despite an appeal filed by the trust against the tribunal’s August ruling.
According to Maumela, after the notice of appeal was filed and served, the trust’s lawyers learned for the first time from the curator’s lawyers at 17:03 on August 18 that the vehicle had already been sold for R9.6 million. He is asking the High Court to halt the sale procedure and the transfer of the blue supercar to its new owner.
Maumela also stated that he informed the parties of his intention to challenge the ruling immediately after it was issued. He described the curator’s actions as being in bad faith. Oral hearings in the case took place on Tuesday, and the court’s decision was expected soon.
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The Ferrari was purchased in April 2022 for R11.1 million, and its value has since fallen by more than R1 million. The Special Tribunal authorized the sale of the vehicle for no less than R9.5 million. The proceeds from the sale must be kept in a trust account and may be used only with the SIU’s approval.
Special Tribunal Judge Bernard Ngcpe ruled that the sale was justified because of the costs of insuring, storing and maintaining the vehicle, whose value continued to decline. Insurance cost about R100,000 per year, storage cost R5,000 per month, and reinstating the warranty was estimated at about R408,000. Two valuations put the Ferrari’s value at R10.2 million and R10.15 million, while an offer of R10.9 million was also received from a Gauteng car dealer.
The Ferrari is included in a list of expensive vehicles and property subject to preservation measures as part of the SIU investigation. According to TimesLIVE, the investigation concerns the alleged looting of about R2 billion from Tembisa Hospital through tender fraud; Maumela is described as the alleged mastermind and main beneficiary of the scheme.
Source: UA
