Lawyer Alan Allschwang was part of the legal team of murdered Teazers boss Lolly Jackson (pictured) but apparently left under a cloud.
Tax attorney Alan Allschwang, who for a limited time was part of the legal team of murdered Teazers boss Lolly Jackson, is set to appear before regulatory body the Legal Practice Council for allegedly being the accomplice of a disbarred attorney accused of swindling people out of millions.
The Mail & Guardian reported last week that disbarred attorney Ben van Heerden is continuing to pocket large sums of money by misappropriating funds paid to him for services he cannot legally offer. He has allegedly defrauded several people since his suspension as a legal practitioner by the council in May 2016.
Van Heerden, who was finally struck off the roll in November, maintains his innocence although court documents, financial statements and former clients suggest the opposite.
Now, further evidence suggests Van Heerden has not been acting alone but with Allschwang, a registered practising attorney in Paarl in the Western Cape. When the M&G contacted Allschwang, he said he would refer the matter to the council and deemed it “inappropriate” to comment on it further.
“To the extent that allegations in your email under reply remain unaddressed, this must not be construed as an admission, or as a waiver of our right to deal with [the] same in the appropriate forum at the appropriate time,” he said.
Allschwang previously practised at Alan Allschwang Associates in Bryanston, Gauteng. He acted as Jackson’s estate lawyer after his death but left under a cloud, sources close to the Jackson family told the M&G.
Allschwang left the country for Mauritius between 2012 and 2014, not long after the Jackson family lawyer Ian Jordaan was murdered in late 2011.
It is unclear when he returned to South Africa but three separate sources who dealt with Allschwang before he left the country were surprised to learn of his return when the M&G contacted them last month.
Allschwang and his wife were sighted in April 2019 when they led Porsche Club of South Africa’s branch in Cape Town on the first Porsche drive of that year.
Residing in the opulent Val de Vie golf estate in Pearl Valley, Allschwang runs Alan Allschwang and Associates Inc Attorneys at Law.
The matter between him and the legal regulatory body dates back to 2020 and relates to Fidelity Fund, a fund for legal practitioners, the council confirmed to the M&G. Another matter had been closed in 2015.
The council is also investigating Allschwang after one of Van Heerden’s alleged victims submitted a complaint. The complainant argues there was a fee-sharing agreement between Allschwang and Van Heerden when he put over R3 million to a trust account he believed was managed by Van Heerden.
The complainant, Marén de Klerk, is the self-confessed paymaster in Namibia’s ongoing multimillion “Fishrot” corruption saga in which the country’s former fisheries minister Bernhardt Esau is embroiled.
Paymaster-turned-whistleblower De
Klerk admitted in an affidavit to having unwittingly committed crimes linked to the Fishrot scandal. Fearing for his life, he left Namibia and acquired legal services in 2020, when he was introduced to Van Heerden and subsequently to Allschwang.
It was only months later that De Klerk learned Van Heerden had been suspended in 2016 and efforts to retrieve his money had failed.
De Klerk claims that Allschwang wrongfully transferred money belonging to him to Van Heerden in 2020 and that Allschwang employed Van Heerden while he was suspended and legally not allowed to practise.
In his statement to the council’s investigative committee, Allschwang denied his firm had employed or shared legal fees with Van Heerden.
“Mr van Heerden to the best of my knowledge is an attorney who resides in Paarl. I have never asked Mr van Heerden for proof of his admission as an attorney or for a copy of his Fidelity Fund Certificate,” Allschwang writes.
At that time, Van Heerden was suspended for nearly four years and his Fidelity Fund certificate had expired in 2013. Allschwang’s Fidelity Fund certificate had expired at the time he met De Klerk. However, it became valid again last year.
Correspondence on 24 January 2020 between Allschwang and De Klerk, which the M&G has seen, contradicts Allschwang’s claim he had never shared legal fees with Van Heerden.
“In the circumstances, Ben (Van Heerden) and I are ethically bound to take counsel off brief without further delay, and to withdraw as your attorneys of record with immediate effect, which we hereby do,” Allschwang wrote in an email to De Klerk after the latter failed to pay for legal services.
Additional information gathered by the M&G suggests Van Heerden acts with the endorsement of Allschwang. Sources believe Allschwang plays a more supervisory role in the wider allegedly fraudulent scheme. One, who agreed to speak to the M&G on the record, is attorney Mzikayise Klaaste, to whom Van Heerden owes legal fees of about R35 000.
Van Heerden referred to Allschwang as his business partner, according to Klaaste, who did a large amount of legal work for Van Heerden from late 2018 until last year. Klaaste said he assumed back then that Allschwang was the “big boss” managing Van Heerden.
The M&G has seen several documents, including invoices, emails and conversations, where Van Heerden references Allschwang at Alan Allschwang & Associates Inc Attorneys at Law. According to De Klerk, he also visited Allschwang at his home with Van Heerden.
Last year, Van Heerden admitted to a former client in Stellenbosch, Rhys van Wyk, that he was not lawfully allowed to practise but assured him that it was not a “big deal”.
In correspondence in September 2020, between Van Wyk and Van Heerden, the latter requests to “seek” Allschwang’s opinion and advice on the relevant matter. Van Heerden assured Van Wyk that Allschwang “is an expert on corporate and tax law”.
In the correspondence, Van Heerden asked for a deposit of R25 000 to initiate the legal process after, he wrote, informally discussing the matter with Allschwang. He concluded: “Once instructed to open a file I shall present you with a formal Fee and Mandate Agreement”.
Van Wyk claimed he paid a total of R280 000 to Van Heerden to assist him in a settlement agreement with Rank Property Administrators during the Covid-19 pandemic. He paid Van Heerden his legal fees and was under the impression that a settlement had been reached when, in fact, it had not. Fortunately, Van Wyk managed to retrieve R210 000.
One person, who paid Van Heerden close to R2 million to manage a trust account, which does not exist, was also aware of a partnership between Van Heerden and Allschwang.
Allschwang having an accomplice could have significant implications for victims’ chances of applying for ancillary relief. The Legal Practice Council told the M&G: “Members of the public have cover when the legal practitioner they are dealing with is in good standing with the LPC and has a valid Fidelity Fund Certificate — if it is an attorney or approved trust fund advocate.”
While Van Heerden’s Fidelity Fund certificate expired in 2013, Allschwang holds a valid certificate, according to the verification portal.
De Klerk was arrested on Thursday at a home in Paarl. The South African government received a request from Namibia for De Klerk’s extradition on 15 October 2021. At the time of publishing, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation had not confirmed the charges.