Africa-Press – South-Africa. Suspended Limpopo lawyer Tumi Mokwena faces an application in the Polokwane High Court for the sequestration of his Dikwenanyana Trust, which was allegedly used to hide assets from his liquidated law firm.
His law firm, Tumi Mokwena Incorporated (TMI), was placed under liquidation in 2019 after it failed to pay its creditors.
In March this year, Mokwena was suspended from practising as an attorney, and later the same month placed under provisional sequestration.
The liquidators, Adriaan van Rooyen and Shirley Motimele, have now brought an application for his Dikwenanyana Trust to be placed under sequestration.
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Mokwena, his mother Mokgadi Mokwena, his former personal assistant, Desire Chune (nee Duvenhage), and his former legal partner Floyd Legodi, were Dikwenanyana trustees.
In court on Monday, it was argued before Judge President Ephraim Makgoba that most of the TMI funds – a total of R7.5 million – were irregularly transferred to the trust to the detriment of the creditors.
The judge was also told that it was “unsustainable” for Mokwena to mount a defence that the funds transferred to the trust were “donations” while his firm was unable to pay creditors.
The judge also heard that his mother and his former personal assistant submitted damning evidence at the Legal Practice Council inquiry on the purpose of the trust and how he “did as he pleases with the trust”.
However, the judge wanted clarity on whether the evidence was admissible without the affidavits of the witnesses.
Makgoba said:
Mokwena, through his attorney, mounted a defence that the establishment of the Dikwenanyana Trust should not be viewed as unlawful.
He further gave examples of previous judgments on related cases.
He also pointed out that the applicants used the investigation into TMI to “actually go for the (Dikwenanyana) trust”.
At the end, the judge instructed both lawyers to submit further written submissions on certain aspects on or before 22 July 2022.
Judgment was reserved.
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