Marianne Merten
Gang boss Chris “Ougat” Patterson, who once handed over the R14 500 monthly bond payments on his Plattekloof mansion in cash, has been forced into reduced circumstances. He and his family have returned to his modest Factreton, Cape Flats, house currently the subject of an investigation under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
The mansion meanwhile has been sold and next month he is to appear in the Cape High Court to argue why the asset forfeiture unit should not auction off the Factreton house.
The unit says the property specifically Petta’s Tavern, run from Patterson’s Factreton premises has been used for drug trafficking and illegal liquor sales from as far back as 1994, according to police arrest records.
In November 1999 the unit obtained a preservation order in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act to prohibit anyone from selling, damaging or altering the Factreton property.
But Patterson alleged leader of the Wonder Kids gang and member of the drug cartel The Firm opposed it. Last August the Cape High Court ordered a hearing to determine whether drugs and illegal liquor were sold there with the knowledge of Patterson and his wife. The matter has been set down for April 17.
The asset forfeiture unit has apparently welcomed the hearing as an opportunity to entrench legal precedent for the 1998 Prevention of Organised Crime Act. Several of the Act’s provisions were successfully challenged leading to amendments.
In April 1999 the Cape High Court overturned the seizure of several homes, cars and luxury items like cellphones and jewellery from another Cape Town gang boss, Gavin Carolus.
The court held that the Act could not apply retrospectively to Carolus’s activities over the past 10 years. Carolus, who was subsequently charged with drug dealing, was shot dead last July.
Patterson has maintained that neither he nor his wife Denise knows of any drug dealing and illegal liquor sales from the tavern where cigarettes, cold drinks and chips are on sale and pool tables and a jukebox are available.
“I admit that I sell primarily fish. From time to time I also deal in fruit and vegetables. I also place bets at the horse races from time to time. I was unaware that I needed to register as a VAT vendor,” Patterson said in papers before the Cape High Court.
“Despite various raids and traps, never have the authorities been able to make a case substantiating the allegation that I or my wife sell drugs, have drugs in our possession, manufacture drugs or supply any persons with drugs.”
The posh Plattekloof home, where Patterson and his wife had lived since March 1999, was sold last month at below market value to avoid foreclosure due to bond arrears.
The house, worth more than R1,5-million, was bought in trust for R900 000 from the estate of Cape Town’s only leading woman gang boss, The Firm drug cartel member Katie Ann Arendse. She and her second husband were killed while sitting in their car outside a relative’s house in Heideveld on the Cape Flats in 1998.
The purchase of the Plattekloof mansion triggered a separate investigation by the South African Revenue Service (Sars). Patterson, who claimed he earned R2 000 a month as a general dealer, filed his first income tax return in November 1998, followed by others dating back to 1994.
Yet an accountant’s statement drafted to apply for a bond on the Plattekloof house showed a turnover at the tavern of almost R5-million between March 1998 and January 1999, and Patterson owning net assets of more than R2-million, with a gross monthly income of R73 500.
Documents also showed several monthly bond repayments of about R14 500 in cash.
It is understood that the Sars investigation into Patterson’s financial records is continuing. And next Friday top Cape gangster Colin Stanfield the alleged leader of The Firm will be sentenced for tax evasion amounting to R2,6-million between 1991 and 1996.