Marianne Merten
A debt-collecting company, International Debt Control (IDC), chaired by former minister of finance Barend Du Plessis, has been expelled from the industry control body after being found guilty of unconscionable behaviour, acting dishonestly and failing to account for collected money.
It is the second time IDC has been censured by the Association of Debt Recovery Agents (ADRA), the industry watchdog.
Du Plessis – a consultant and director of several companies – said the matter, and others, had been referred to senior counsel. “It’s regarded as sub judice and I have nothing to say,” he said.
In 1998 IDC left ADRA pending charges of, among other things, charging excessive costs for recovering debts and lack of control over collected debt. IDC was provisionally readmitted at the end of 1998 after paying a R10 000 fine and promising to censure the director responsible.
ADRA ruled that should IDC be found guilty on a similar complaint again, its membership would be withdrawn immediately.
Although Du Plessis, who owns 10% of the company’s shares, was on the ADRA board at the time, he was asked not to stand for re- election in late 1999 because of the previous year’s events.
The developments leading up to the expulsion date back to late last year when ADRA was alerted to at least one questionable debt collection. IDC was expelled following a disciplinary hearing in February this year and the company’s appeal failed in March, when the expulsion was upheld.
“One has the distinct impression at least two directors of IDC, when dealing with the company’s conduct, hear no evil, speak no evil and see no evil,” the ADRA board of appeal said. “The evidence against IDC, however, shows that it has acted with a complete disregard for the norms and standards expressed in ADRA’s constitution, resolutions and code of conduct.”
A week before Christmas, ADRA informed IDC in writing of the charges against it, including violating the ADRA constitution, acting dishonestly and misleading the ADRA board about a company audit.
IDC was found guilty on the charge of having “acted dishonestly towards a debtor and a client and only [having] rectified the matter when a director objected to this dishonesty”.
The incident referred to the collection of R29 000 from a debtor in August even after their client, Diners Club, agreed to settle with a payment of R21 000. The debtor had paid IDC the full R29E000 in August and was only refunded R7E000 two months later. IDC retained R1E000 for costs.
In March, the ADRA board of appeal found that IDC had violated its conditions of re-entry to the association in 1998, having failed to censure its director at the heart of the 1998 complaint over excessive costs. ADRA found IDC had merely concocted “a smokescreen to deceive ADRA”.
ADRA found IDC guilty of not handing over money timeously to its overseas associate TCM New Zealand, for which it collects debts locally. The association also criticised the company for bringing South Africa’s debt collection industry into disrepute.
IDC manager Angie Ball said the “matter is in the hands of our legal advisers, who are taking it on review to the high court. No further comment will be made.”