Nawaal Deane Magnus Heystek, the finance guru, has appeared in the Johannesburg High Court in the latest round of litigation involving a multimillion-rand family trust. Clive Berman, the father of the beneficiaries of the trust, last week sought to interdict the trustees from using funds from the trust to finance their litigation with him. Berman has accused the trustees of mishandling the trust, and is due to have his main case against them heard in October.
The Berman Family Trust was set up in 1994 by the late Monica Berman, the second wife of Clive Berman. Their two children are the beneficiaries of the trust and the three trustees are also the executors of the R21-million Monica Berman estate. The value of the trust stands at approximately R2-million. The trust should have been terminated last December, a year after Monica Berman’s death, but due to the ongoing litigation the trustees are still able to exercise power over the remaining funds. Clive Berman has been attempting through a series of actions to remove the trustees “on the grounds of certain misconduct and mismanagement of funds”. Berman’s advocate, Bruce Leech, accused Heystek and trustees of “dipping their hands into the trust fund bank account” to finance their litigation. Heystek and the trustees are being sued in their personal capacities. In October the Johannesburg High Court will decide whether Heystek and the trustees should be removed from their positions and will address the allegations of misappropriation.
Berman and Heystek have accused each other of trying to benefit from the trust. Apart from a number of allegations by Berman he is also suing Heystek for the sum of R13-million that was allegedly paid into a separate account. Heystek had dual signing power on the cheques from that account. Heystek has laid a charge of attempted fraud and extortion against Berman. The current litigation, says David Levithan, Heystek’s attorney, was Berman’s counter-move. Levithan told the Mail & Guardian this week: “Mr Berman approached Mr Heystek on two occasions for payment in exchange for ceasing all legal action against the trustees.” Leech told the court that if the funds are used for the litigation the trust will be depleted on account of the trustees’ two sets of attorneys. Philips Daniels, the advocate for the other trustees – psychologist Anne-Marie Wentzel and lawyer Leonard Singer – argued the interdict was “premature” and the misconduct or removal of the trustees will be decided at the trial court. He also said his clients have denied all allegations.
Judgement in the interdict case has yet to be delivered. Heystek earlier this year abandoned a defamation action against the M&G for its coverage of the controversy, and last week finally paid the newspaper’s costs for the case before the M&G was due to go to court for the money.