Howard Barrell
The Heath special investigating unit has been empowered to recover millions of rands stolen from road accident victims by unscrupulous lawyers.
Judge Willem Heath’s team will investigate a fraudulent scheme which targets unsophisticated road accident victims. Rogue attorneys have been cheating semi- literate and often indigent clients of large parts of the insurance pay-outs they have received from the state-backed Road Accident Fund which compensates traffic victims.
According to the Department of Transport, of 143 cases investigated, on average 56% of what was to be paid to victims was kept by their lawyers and, in six instances, it appeared as if 100% of the amount the claimants were awarded was kept by their lawyers.
Deputy President Thabo Mbeki signed a proclamation on March 18 empowering Heath to conduct the investigation.
The provincial law societies have welcomed the investigation. President of the Cape Law Society Adrian Watermeyer said: “We are delighted to have Heath and his powers on our side in the battle to get rid of the bad apples among us.”
But some legal circles queried how Heath could be given powers to investigate funds passing between people in the client- attorney relationship. Heath’s powers are generally understood to cover investigations into matters regarding funds owed to or owned by the state.
The transport department said in a statement, however, that the special investigating units and Special Tribunals Act empowered Heath to carry out the investigation. This was because “the abuse of attorney-client relations involved the use of public money”.