Tensions arose at the insolvency inquiry of luxury property group Pinnacle Point in Cape Town on Tuesday over an evocative email, allegedly sent by the consul general of the Seychelles in South Africa, Marie-May Kölsch, to a former non-executive director of the group, Ivor Stratford.
“Thanks a million for the 3% shares of the entire development of Ile Aurore,” Kölsch allegedly wrote in her opening paragraph in her email to Stratford in 2008. “When I see you again, I will kiss you all over — make sure to wear protection underwear.”
The shares Kölsch is alleged to have referred to in her correspondence with Stratford were in a proposed Seychelles golf development, Ile Aurore Nouvelle. Pinnacle Point won the tender to develop the golf course on the island, but it never got off the ground.
Kölsch was subpoenaed to the inquiry, but refused to attend this week, claiming diplomatic immunity.
Gavin Woodland SC, who is examining witnesses on behalf of the liquidators of Pinnacle Point, has disputed Kölsch’s right to claim diplomatic immunity, saying a consul general was not entitled to the same rights as diplomats.
The inquiry heard in Kölsch’s absence how her email to Stratford also discussed that she might like to exchange her 3% shares in Ile Aurore for shares in Pinnacle Point in South Africa, as he had apparently told her this was possible.
If that offer still stood, Kölsch wrote, she would need it explained in detail, as she “needed to discuss it with Fred”.
Stratford told the inquiry that Fred was Kölsch’s husband.
While the suggestive nature of the email caused muffled laughter at the inquiry, it was the context of the business transactions that really brought this section of Stratford’s examination to a halt.
Kölsch’s correspondence was in response to a more formal email from Stratford earlier the same day.
This email, the inquiry was informed, was sent via Stratford’s personal assistant Dale Etherington, as he said he did not know how to send emails.
In the email, Stratford told Kölsch that her 3% shares in Ile Aurore Seychelles were derived from her 30% beneficial shares in another company set up to facilitate transactions in the Seychelles, Indian Ocean Holdings Limited, of which she was a director.
This company owned 10% of the Ile Aurore Nouvelle Seychelles, which had the commercial agreement with the government of the Seychelles, wrote Stratford.
“As discussed with you, we are happy to purchase your interest in Indian Ocean Holdings Limited over the time of the contract, and when we are better able to assess the profitability of the development,” he wrote.
In his email, Stratford said that Pinnacle Point was confident of achieving “a substantial profit from the development over the next four years” and looked forward to its continued personal and business relationship with Kölsch.
Stratford’s legal team asked for time for his client to look at the correspondence and to discuss it with him, complaining that files containing relevant documents had been given to them and later removed.
Inquiry commissioner, retired judge Meyer Joffe, agreed that this particular part of the examination could be deferred until Wednesday morning.
Stratford told the inquiry on Monday that Kölsch and the honorary consul for the Seychelles in South, Malcolm Gessler, had shared $300 000 in an “introductory fee” after Pinnacle Point won the golf development tender. This had accounted for the R50 000 payments to Kölsch’s account each month over a period between 2007 and 2009, he said.
Kölsch could not be reached for comment by the Mail & Guardian, and according to her personal assistant, Dirk Breytenbach, she will be unavailable for the next few weeks.
However, Gessler responded to a query emailed to Kölsch by the M&G about the “introductory fee” paid to them by Pinnacle Point.
“The Pinnacle Point records reflect that other than an initial introduction of Pinnacle Point to the Seychelles government in my capacity as honorary consul, an initial legal opinion sought as an attorney, the further conduct of the matter was dealt with exclusively through the office of the Seychelles consul general, Mrs M Kölsch,” Gessler wrote.
“This office had no further role or input in the matter.”