tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76613788489933097542024-03-16T20:52:27.676+02:00Mark Lifman uncensoredAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14530777608536070961noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7661378848993309754.post-76816858157055612532017-12-04T15:34:00.000+02:002018-01-03T19:42:29.990+02:00Mark Lifman in the President's Keepers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President%27s_Keepers">The President's Keepers</a> author Jacques Pauw writes about "Those keeping Zuma in power and out of prison" and we take the liberty to quote the full chapter 9, which exclusively deals with <a href="http://www.marklifman.com/p/about-mark-lifman-and-this-blog.html">Mark Lifman</a>:<br />
<h4>
NINE - The gentleman gangster and his donkey</h4>
In the shadow of one of the world's natural icons – Table Mountain – lurks a web of sleaze and skulduggery, ruled by nightmarish mobsters and ruffians. Many have relocated from far away to peddle their trade in narcotics, women and bouncers on the shores of Cape Town. Some have settled in idyllic Camps Bay or Clifton while others trade from seaside flats in Sea Point and Three Anchor Bay. Their nicknames often give away their origin: Hoosain “the Moroccan” Ait-Taleb and Yuri “the Russian” Ulianitski. After Yuri died in a hail of bullets, Igor “the New Russian” Russol took his place. They have in turn merged with local gangsters to form one of the most feared criminal gangdoms in the world. One figure has over the past decade repeatedly emerged from this murky underground domain: <b>Mark Roy Lifman</b>, often referred to as a “businessman-gangster”. The clean-shaven and square-jawed Lifman, his coiffed hair neatly parted on the side as he slides in his designer clothes into an array of super-cars, cuts a suave and sophisticated image. He is a far cry from his “business associate”, Jerome “Donkie” Booysen (donkie is Afrikaans for donkey), head of the Sexy Boys gang on the Cape Flats.<br />
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According to the Mail & Guardian, Lifman was closely associated with Yuri and joined him at a restaurant hours before the Russian was mowed down. They were co-owners of a strip club in Sea Point. Lifman was also linked to bouncer boss and club owner Cyril Beeka, another mobster who was later assassinated.<br />
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After Beeka's death, Lifman filled the void with his own security company and linked up with Ait-Taleb. Their security company had about 350 doormen or bouncers working at 146 clubs throughout the city. That was roughly 60 per cent of the province's nightlife. It is important to remember that bouncers at doors determine what drugs from whom enter the premises.<br />
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The Mail & Guardian described Lifman as a “shrewd businessman” and quoted Igor Russol as saying that “any business he opens will make money”. Underworld sources say that, after owning a taxi company and gambling businesses in Sea Point, Lifman became a property developer, working with gangster Jerome Booysen. He also opened strip clubs in the city.<br />
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At the time of writing, full-scale warfare has again taken hold of the streets of Cape Town, this time allegedly between a gang linked to Lifman and that of an East European, Nafiz Modack, who was previously involved in an alleged scam with luxury cars. More reports surfaced, stating that Eastern European men were being brought into Cape Town to assist a planned coup of Lifman and Booysen's turf by Modack. Other reports followed of people shot, two murders and many assaults.<br />
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Lifman, linked to corruption, fraud, money laundering, drug trafficking, cigarette smuggling and transnational organised crime, has over the years miraculously escaped prosecution and prison time. In 2009, Lifman was acquitted on charges of indecently assaulting seven boys and attempting to murder their alleged pimp. As so often in the past, it was left to SARS to bring Lifman down. They ultimately presented him with a tax bill of R388 million at the beginning of 2015.<br />
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This case should have been settled by now. SARS started investigating Lifman in October 2013 after it appeared that he hadn't paid taxes for years. The investigation, named Project All Out, followed an earlier unsuccessful Project Boy and was headed by a tough and experienced tax detective, Keith Hendrickse, the Western Cape head of the National Projects Unit of SARS. Hendrickse and his team also did the tax investigation that led to the financial ruin of gang boss Quinton “Mr Big” Marinus. He was the gangster who met and complained to Jacob Zuma about SARS some years prior.<br />
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National Projects resided under Johann van Loggerenberg, but was entirely separate from the High-Risk Investigation Unit, which the media branded as the “rogue unit”. This is important for the purposes of this story because it will illustrate the deceit of Tom Moyane and his henchmen.<br />
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The Lifman investigation was massive and expensive. Apart from Hendrickse and his team, SARS appointed attorneys and advocates and the audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to penetrate Lifman's entangled financial empire. They investigated 35 close corporations, companies and a trust. According to a SARS document, Lifman was also a loan shark and a debt collector, “particularly within the domain of the illicit and underworld role-players”. Lifman used Booysen and his Sexy Boys gangsters to do the collections. Fifty per cent of the collected money was kept as commission.<br />
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Lifman also had links with the so-called Johannesburg crowd, led by bouncer and self-confessed Brett Kebble killer Mikey Schultz. He was in turn connected to Czech mobster Radovan Krejčíř and none other than cigarette manufacturer Adriano Mazzotti and Carnilinx.<br />
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It is widely known among underground criminals that a fierce competitor of Carnilinx, the tobacco manufacturer Yusuf Kajee (whose fellow director/shareholder was Edward Zuma), owed someone some serious money: twenty million, in fact. This followed the demise of Kajee's earlier venture into tobacco manufacturing, which was in the process of being shut down by SARS. Kajee needed money, and he needed it fast. He borrowed “twenty bar” from a loan shark, but wasn't paying back according to the agreement.<br />
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Carnilinx's director Adriano Mazzotti met Lifman and Booysen in early November 2013 at the Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town. He was accompanied by Carnilinx's lawyer, Belinda Walter. Little did any of them know that she was a spy for whoever was willing to pay for their secrets. Mazzotti has publicly admitted to this meeting and explained that Lifman had contacted him beforehand about it. He explained that they discussed ways of expanding their cigarette business into the Western Cape.<br />
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What I came to learn from insiders in the tobacco industry was that the Carnilinx crowd had a more devilish plan for Kajee up their sleeve. They wanted to choke his business at the same time. They knew of Kajee's debt problem and arranged that Lifman and Booysen “take over” the debt collection. Kajee was suddenly under significant financial pressure from Lifman, Booysen and their bouncer goons to pay his debt. These events appear to have propelled Lifman into the proximity of illicit cigarette traders.<br />
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Somehow, attorneys Ian Small-Smith and Belinda Walter seem to have been involved in trying to assist the Carnilinx vendetta against Kajee. In September 2013, the Tobacco Task Team conducted a raid on Kajee's business under the pretext of contraventions of immigration laws. Small-Smith and Walter had inside knowledge of this raid. In text exchanges between them, on the same day of the raid, it is clear that they knew of it, discussed it and exchanged thoughts on getting this to the attention of the media in an apparent attempt to pile up more pressure on Kajee.<br />
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Indeed, in September 2013, newspapers carried stories of the raid on Kajee's company in Pietermaritzburg. Kajee retorted by laying criminal charges against members of the Tobacco Task Team who raided him. He accused them of damaging his property, obtaining a search warrant under false pretences and assaulting his workers. Nothing seems to have come of this.<br />
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In a 2014 affidavit, SARS acting commissioner Ivan Pillay said of the Lifman case: “SARS officials involved in the case have received several death threats and one official's home was burgled. The home of one of the personnel contracted by SARS to deal with the Lifman inquiry was also burgled and only laptops [were] stolen.”<br />
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By early 2014, SARS had concluded its full-scale inquiry and audit in terms of section 50 of the Tax Administration Act into Lifman's tax affairs. More than ninety witnesses testified at this tax inquiry. SARS presented Lifman with a tax bill of over R350 million, which had in the meantime risen to R388 million. PricewaterhouseCoopers oversaw the final figures of the audit. This was followed by a year of litigation between SARS and Lifman, which he ultimately lost.<br />
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In one of his failed court applications, Lifman described himself as a “maverick businessman” and likened himself to an early Johannesburg “Randlord”, a name given to the entrepreneurs who controlled the gold mining industry in South Africa in its pioneering phase. “I'm like Barney Barnato. I chase the gold, not taking much notice of what is in my path to get there. So I will go off the beaten track to get there . . . Does that make sense to you? I am spontaneous.”<br />
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At the time, Lifman's financial assets included more than a hundred accounts at four different banks, trendy clothing stores, an extensive property portfolio and at least 14 luxury vehicles. Among his assets was an upmarket brothel, the Embassy. SARS also found a bank account with more than R20 million in cash and 14 luxury vehicles, including three Porsche Cayennes. SARS penalised Lifman for a host of infringements, including tax evasion, failing to submit tax returns, making false disclosures and instructing his tax advisers to miscalculate his tax.<br />
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Let us stop for a moment. It is important to remember that after Van Loggerenberg, Pillay and the others left SARS in late 2014 and early 2015, Lifman's tax case was inherited by Tom Moyane and his new appointees. Lifman was ready to be taken down and his taxes collected. The once well-oiled SARS machine would have seen this case through with little resistance.<br />
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Millions should already have flowed into state coffers and ultimately resulted in an alleged gangster being financially crippled and possibly facing criminal charges. But hold onto your seat because what followed next is nothing but sabotage of the national fiscus. And once again, somewhere on the horizon, hovers the figure of Jacob Zuma as well as his family.<br />
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In April 2015, City Press said that Tom Moyane was approached to “go easy” on Lifman as the businessman “is an important man because of his money and influence and his proximity to powerful people”. The City Press story has not been challenged or contested since its publication and the allegations, said the newspaper, were verified by four different sources.<br />
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My sources told me that Lifman is known for his political connections and not shy to flaunt and brag about them. In 2014, he was photographed by the Sunday Times at President Jacob Zuma's birthday rally in Athlone, Cape Town, in the company of ANC provincial chairperson Marius Fransman. Lifman wore an ANC T-shirt (imported from China by another Zuma devotee) and had VIP access to the stage, which required clearance by Zuma's bodyguards.<br />
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Lifman approached SARS several times with promises to settle his bill and become tax compliant. He always seemed to cancel the meetings at the last moment and has shown complete disdain for the tax service. At one time, he allegedly offered to pay SARS R30 million as a final and full settlement of his tax bill. The tax collector rejected his offer.<br />
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Word must have reached the State Security Agency (SSA) that Lifman wanted to settle. On 26 February 2015, the director-general of the SSA, Sonto Kudjoe, wrote to Moyane personally and pleaded with him to reject Lifman's overtures. Kudjoe referred Moyane to an interdepartmental task team that was established in October 2012 to bring down Lifman. The team consisted of members of the SSA, the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the police and the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC). Said Kudjoe: “It has been confirmed that the mentioned individual, Mark Roy Lifman, is involved in criminal activities including transnational organised crime.” She said this encompassed intimidation, corruption, cigarette smuggling, drug trafficking, paedophilia and money laundering.<br />
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“If the individual settles with the revenue service it is of concern to the SSA that the individual and his syndicate will continue with their illicit activities. Of particular concern to the SSA is the impact that the syndicate has on the social stability of specifically the Western Cape and the possible influence of the syndicate on gang turf wars.”<br />
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This is an astonishing letter for a number of reasons. The first is that although it is commendable that the state wanted to bring Lifman to book, the exclusion of SARS from the task team is bewildering. Lifman could long ago have been prosecuted on the strength of the SARS investigation against him for at least tax evasion, money laundering and possibly fraud. Why has it not been done? Why didn't this interdepartmental team cooperate with Van Loggerenberg, Hendrickse and the SARS team?<br />
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The second concern is that the task team was established in October 2012, and almost five years later, as I am sitting writing this book, Lifman remains untouched and possibly stronger than ever. In fact, in the last few months, as the street war broke out in Cape Town, bodies have begun to pile up in Lifman's vicinity.<br />
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As far back as March 2011, assassins on a motorbike shot underworld kingpin Cyril Beeka‚ just after he had left Donkie Booysen's home. In November 2016, Craig Mathieson, the night manager of Hotel 303, located in Sea Point, which happens to be owned by Lifman, was murdered. Nothing was stolen from the 44- year-old or from the hotel. Just a day or so before this, attorney Noorudien Hassan was killed outside his home in Lansdowne. Hassan had acted in many court cases involving gangs and he represented clients such as alleged gang boss Ralph Stanfield, suspected gun smuggler Irshaad Laher, and Lifman's “business associate” Donkie Booysen. In May 2017, Booysen was shot in the neck and rushed to hospital.<br />
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What exactly has this task team been doing all these years? There were several opportunities to get Lifman and his cohorts in the dock. The Sunday Times reported in February 2014 that Lifman's Porsche was parked at a house belonging to Booysen's sister and her husband. Both were also known gangsters. Police confiscated three kilograms of tik (an illicit methamphetamine-type concoction) and more than 5,000 Mandrax tablets at the house. Where was the task team? What has happened to this interdepartmental team? Nobody seems to know.<br />
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Sonto Kudjoe didn't last long. Five months after writing her letter to SARS, she was gone and replaced by Arthur Fraser. I do not know if the letter had anything to do with her departure, but Daily Maverick has reported a link between Lifman and Fraser. The online publication said that Fraser and Lifman were seen entering the headquarters of auditing firm KPMG in Cape Town, two months after Fraser was appointed as Zuma's new spy boss. The publication sent an e-mail to State Security spokesperson Brian Dube, asking whether Fraser's presence at the audit firm was for official business and, if so, what the nature of this was. Dube promised that he would look into the matter, but failed to reply.<br />
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In his answer to Kudjoe, Moyane assured her that Lifman “will not receive preferential treatment. He will be expected, like any other taxpayer, to comply with the ambit of the law.”<br />
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In a March 2016 memo, SARS's Keith Hendrickse said that Lifman “continues to adversely litigate with SARS”, had not paid any of the outstanding taxes or admitted liability, and remained non-compliant “as to the submission of returns, some of which became due even after the last date of the investigation period”. Lifman had throughout the process told SARS that he wished to become tax compliant, yet had done little from his side to make this happen. Instead, he launched two urgent court applications and several business rescue applications to avoid sequestration. He lost, and had to pay SARS's legal costs, which he has also failed to do.<br />
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Hendrickse said SARS attorneys and counsel had devised a “collection and litigation plan” to collect Lifman's tax debt. He said that the plan recommended the sequestration of Lifman and that these papers would be finalised by March 2016, for issue in the early part of April 2016. Hendrickse added that SARS had appointed independent valuators to provide desktop valuations of fixed property belonging to the Lifman Group. According to the valuations, the property portfolio alone amounted to R92 million. He said there are “good prospects of collecting substantial taxes”. “Mr Lifman . . . has a history of flagrant disregard for his tax debts, a history of litigating against SARS without regard of the merits of the matters, not paying costs awards and aborted attempts at settling.”<br />
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In May 2016, SARS auctioned four of Lifman's luxury cars, among them two Porches, in Cape Town. While interested and potential bidders inspected the cars, Booysen and his lieutenants sauntered in. Within minutes of bidding, Booysen and his cronies bought all four cars – at a tiny fraction of what they were worth. People were hesitant to bid against them.<br />
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In January 2016, Tom Moyane ordered all SARS employees up to level seven to reapply for their jobs. Daily Maverick said that “seasoned staff with years of experience and international training and with formidable successes under their belts were flown to Pretoria where they were re-interviewed and assessed by audit, consulting, corporate finance, tax services and risk advisory firm Deloitte”. In August of the same year, many learnt their fate. They were gone, along with the National Projects Unit, which investigated Lifman and other notorious tax evaders.<br />
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Marianne Thamm commented in Daily Maverick: “As National Projects is to be disbanded, says a SARS insider, the type of in-depth national investigation the unit was capable of conducting will no longer occur, leaving a massive gap that organised criminals as well as unscrupulous individuals are bound to exploit.” The National Projects Unit had been tasked with investigating underworld figures but, more importantly, it had also probed Zuma family friends and ANC donors.<br />
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Seasoned investigators and managers with years of experience were not reappointed and were in some cases forced to accept lower positions. You don't have to be a tax expert to know that this would have resulted in a lack of capacity to conduct sophisticated investigations into tax evaders and criminals.<br />
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The rationale for the restructuring, said SARS, was to ensure that the “organisation better meets its mandate to collect all revenue due to the fiscus and to maintain control over all goods entering and leaving the country. We are unable to delve into the details of our enforcement strategies and tactics to prevent any compromise to our investigations.”<br />
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Why did Moyane disband the SARS investigation units that had once reported to Gene Ravele and Johann van Loggerenberg? Remember that only one, the six-man High-Risk Investigation Unit (HRIU), was branded “rogue” – although no evidence was ever presented to substantiate the allegations that they were implicated in wrongdoing. These units played a crucial role in elevating SARS to world-class status and contributed significantly to the tax service not just reaching its target every year, but surpassing it. Moyane must know that an investigative capability is a crucial element of any modern and efficient tax collector. Otherwise, why else would he have established, in November 2016, another “rogue unit” aimed at “targeting the illicit economy”?<br />
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Tom Moyane had at his disposal a team of dedicated and celebrated investigators, but instead of letting them continue doing their work, he ostracised and shunned them and dismantled their structures. Do you agree that this makes absolutely no sense? Well, you are wrong. It makes complete sense. His intention might well have been not to rejuvenate SARS's ability to get under the skin of organised crime, but to kill those cases that implicated cronies and family members of the president and the ruling party.<br />
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Moyane's choice of new chief investigator was acting senior manager Yegan Mundie, a former policeman and long-time, undistinguished SARS official at the anti-corruption unit in Pretoria. On 1 September 2016, Mundie motivated for the approval of a new unit that included features like a safe house, pool cars, infiltrations, interceptions of communications, use of agents, and covert funding through another SARS cost centre. These features all sound uncannily like the fake “rogue unit” stories that Moyane seemed to want the country to believe. This new unit was ultimately approved by the enforcement head of SARS, Hlengani Mathebula, whereafter Mundie was joined by KZN regional head Gobi Makhanya as his new boss.<br />
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Forensic investigator Paul O'Sullivan was onto Mundie in a flash. He opened a criminal docket at the Bedfordview police station, pertaining to fraud against Mundie, his wife Diane Mundie, notorious murderer and fraudster Jen-Chih “Robert” Huang and former SARS official Chetty Vengas. Huang is the owner of Mpisi Trading and the subject of one of SARS's biggest tax-evading investigations ever. Vengas, reportedly a former disgraced SARS employee who was implicated in corruption, is one of Huang's directors. You will read much more about Huang in the next chapter.<br />
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O'Sullivan said in an affidavit that Mundie was part of a SARS investigation against Huang while Diane Mundie worked for him. From what I could determine, this investigation was being managed by the SARS anti-corruption unit under Clifford Collings, who worked closely with the police on the matter. Mundie used to report to Collings. The forensic investigator also presented evidence that one of Huang's co-directors had allegedly arranged in 2013 for Mundie's damaged BMW 3 Series to be fixed.<br />
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News24, quoting four different sources, reported that the new unit was not investigating tax evaders or money launderers, but instead was ostensibly digging for dirt against Pravin Gordhan, Ivan Pillay, Gene Ravele and Johann van Loggerenberg to charge them criminally – for whatever.<br />
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Daily Maverick commented: “The irony, for now, is that Moyane appears – officially at least – to have set up a unit exactly like the one he complained to police about in March 2015. This is the same complaint the Hawks and NPA used to go after Gordhan, Moyane's direct and, dare we say, accidental superior in the chain of command.”<br />
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Following the exposure of Moyane's new unit, Pravin Gordhan demanded an explanation. Moyane wrote to Gordhan: “The SARS officials' mandate is only in as far as it relates to SARS employees involved in alleged criminal activities and tax matters. The team operates in SARS offices and are known in SARS that they are targeting criminal syndicates in SARS.”<br />
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Moyane did not explain to Gordhan the legislation in terms of which his new unit had been constituted nor what its mandate might be and whether this was approved and by whom. He also did not set out how the new unit differed from the High-Risk Investigation Unit or how it would be funded. He said nothing about the use of “safe houses”, “interceptions of communications”, “undercover agents” and “traps” either. Moyane was, to put it mildly, as economical with the truth about this new unit as he could possibly have been.<br />
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As you will come to see, the mandate of this new unit extended far beyond the “alleged criminal activities” of SARS employees.<br />
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On 10 August 2016, Yegan Mundie wrote a confidential memorandum to enforcement head Hlengani Mathebula. This is an exact quote from the memo: “It is clear that Mr Lifman was targeted by the Rogue Unit and SARS was used to cripple Mr Lifman's business. SARS is making use of private using Senior Counsel in order to continue to victimize Mr Lifman in a litigation process that will not be finalised soon. There is definitely collusion between the SARS officials and the appointed counsel to delay the matter. Mr Lifman's twelve shops have been closed and some of his assets have been [seized] by SARS, whilst he is still busy objecting to the assessment that was raised against him. Mr Lifman stated that his tax affairs have been published in the media through the Rogue Units.” (These were Mundie's exact words.)<br />
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Mundie has reportedly met with the National Projects team in Cape Town, which had dealt with the Lifman case all along, and requested all files from them. He must thus know that the “rogue unit” – the HRIU – had nothing to do with Lifman's investigation. Why then did he say so in his memorandum?<br />
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In addition, the Lifman audit was overseen by respected audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, while Lifman's tax affairs were laid bare in a tax inquiry in which he had top legal representation. This was a court process where evidence was presented and witnesses cross-examined. It had nothing to do with any “rogue unit”. Lifman lost his applications in the High Court, which resulted in Hendrickse setting out a plan of action for SARS to collect Lifman's taxes.<br />
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Then came Mundie's memorandum. What do you guess happened next? Yes, you are right. Mundie afforded Lifman the gap he so desperately needed. In November 2016, Lifman lodged an application in the High Court to have his tax audit of R388 million reviewed. He advanced what has become known as the “rogue unit defence”, that he was unfairly targeted and victimised. Lifman threatened to interdict SARS from continuing with its efforts to liquidate his companies.<br />
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The clincher was when his attorney, Asger Gani, stated in his papers: “Our client [Lifman] has now been formally advised that a review has been authorised and is being conducted of the entire group's tax affairs. Our client has this confirmation in writing. With this in mind, all execution processes and/or legal proceedings must immediately be halted, pending the finalisation of the review.”<br />
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SARS, through attorney Dirk Pietersen, responded that “neither our offices, nor our client's representatives are aware of any ‘authorisation' and/or decision to ‘review' the ‘tax findings', ‘liabilities' and/or assessments relating to Mr Lifman”. Pietersen rejected Gani's demands that all legal proceedings be ended.<br />
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Asked to confirm whether SARS had indeed agreed to re-audit Lifman, the SARS media office responded by saying: “SARS does not comment on the affairs of a taxpayer.”<br />
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When Moyane took office at SARS and allowed the “rogue unit” narrative to play out in the public domain in such spectacular fashion, he obviously never thought about the consequences of his high-stake game plan – of jeopardising a fortune for the fiscus. In December 2014, Ivan Pillay warned Moyane that SARS stood to lose millions if taxpayers in litigation attached value to speculation about the “rogue unit” narrative. Moyane scoffed at Pillay and suspended him.<br />
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His dilemma is this: if the SARS leadership wanted to oppose Lifman's latest stratagem, it would have to admit that Moyane's and Mundie's “rogue unit” proclamations were fabricated and manufactured to get rid of Pillay, Richer, Ravele, Van Loggerenberg and the others. Moyane was not going to have any of that.<br />
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Shortly after Lifman's court application, News24 reported that he had received an e-mail from a SARS auditor, Gavin Cairns. The e-mail started with a very congenial “Good day Mark”, and then thanked him for a meeting with SARS and said: “As mentioned, I have been tasked to attend to the review of the recent audit SARS conducted on your group companies.”<br />
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In the e-mail, Cairns told Lifman that a review would be carried out at his offices in January 2017. Cairns cc'd Mundie in his e-mail. News24 reported that SARS's chief officer for enforcement, Hlengani Mathebula, informed senior colleagues that he had not sanctioned or authorised a review of Lifman's tax bill.<br />
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Lifman's court application was set down to be heard in February 2017 in the Western Cape High Court. Unexpectedly, or perhaps not so, the application was removed from the court roll “by consent between the parties”. Checkmate. Lifman had seen through the “rogue unit” sham that Pillay had warned Moyane about more than two years previously, and was now capitalising on it.<br />
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This has set SARS at war with itself, and it is not difficult to predict the outcome of the mess. It is going to be calamitous for the tax collector, the fiscus and all South Africans because so much is at stake. SARS will probably just let the case slide over time and, when most have forgotten about it, let it die off, or the service will be forced to somehow settle with Lifman. He will likely pay a tiny fraction of what he owes SARS, he will be declared tax compliant, and festivities will commence in gangland down south.<br />
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The Lifman case has cost SARS – and ultimately the taxpayer – many millions of rand. Four SARS auditors worked on the case and just the tax inquiry lasted a year, during which time SARS employed the services of an external legal team.<br />
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The tax collector commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to oversee the audit at the cost of a fortune. The documents generated during the investigation would fill a small storeroom.<br />
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Lifman may have been the first alleged organised criminal or big-time tax evader to benefit from the void left by the disbandment of SARS's investigation units, but he will not be the last. Had the “old” SARS structures been in place, I have no doubt that Lifman would have trudged the path of the likes of Quinton Marinus, Radovan Krejčíř, Lolly Jackson and Glenn Agliotti. He would have been financially ruptured, there would have been evidence of tax evasion and money laundering to put him on trial, and the fiscus would have profited.<br />
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To avoid humiliation, Tom Moyane will probably hide behind the confidentiality provisions of the Tax Administration Act and every media enquiry to SARS about Lifman will be met with: “SARS does not comment on the affairs of a taxpayer.” I would, however, advise Moyane to sleep with one eye open. Despite many of the public claims by him and his acolytes that morale at SARS is at its highest level ever, the discontent within his own ranks is intense and the disillusionment in SARS is growing by the day.<br />
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More documents and information will emerge that will further illuminate how this Zuma crony navigated the once proud tax collector into a quagmire of trash and filth.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14530777608536070961noreply@blogger.com11Sea Point, Cape Town, 8005, South Africa-33.9169494 18.387548700000025-33.9433029 18.347208200000026 -33.8905959 18.427889200000024tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7661378848993309754.post-57534582408016130962016-01-05T02:53:00.001+02:002018-01-03T16:20:20.674+02:00Shimmy Beach Club and mafia-man Mark Lifman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="http://www.shimmybeachclub.com/press-room/response-to-negative-press-allegations/">Shimmy Beach Club</a> likes to present itself as the posh venue where the high society goes to party. At last we are certain, that Shimmy is the place where Underworld King Mark Lifman goes to collect his share of the profits.</div>
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After <a href="http://www.marklifman.com/p/about-mark-lifman-and-this-blog.html">Mark Lifman added Shimmy to his business portfolio</a> and articles made this fact public Shimmy Beach Club released an official "<a href="http://www.shimmybeachclub.com/press-room/response-to-negative-press-allegations/">response to negative Press allegations</a>" where they carefully worded "<i>Shimmy wishes to state categorically that Mr. Lifman is not, and has never been a stakeholder in Shimmy. Shimmy has no relationship whatsoever with Mr. Lifman.</i>" which might be true in a legal sense. But factually we were able to confirm from various current and ex employees, that Mark Lifman is indeed regularly working at Shimmy Beach Club and managing security there. It appears, that <a href="http://www.whalecottage.com/blog/cape-town/chef-seelan-sundoo-proud-owner-of-new-seelan-restaurant-bar/">his shareholding is kept by Seelan Sundoo as the front person</a> but Mark Lifman is reaping all the profits from it.</div>
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As Shimmy staff is reporting strategies of fear and violence working there, you might not be surprised to read these <a href="http://hellopeter.com/shimmy-beach-club/compliments-and-complaints">reviews of Shimmy Beach Club on HelloPeter</a>:</div>
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<b><a href="http://hellopeter.com/shimmy-beach-club/complaints/bouncer-brutally-assaulted-1911848">Bouncer brutally assaulted</a> </b>"He next pushed me back & grabbed me in a choke grip & started hauling me to the door. Once I reached the exit, <b>my head was pushed into the tar, this created a severe cut above my right eye & broke a front tooth</b>, to the extent the tooth was knocked out & all my other teeth are chipped & damaged from hitting the ground. <b>Subsequently the bouncer pushed my head along the tarred floor which tore my lower earlobe to the extent I had to be rushed to ICU</b>. When I returned to lay charges, the attitude hadn't changed. Shimmey Beach Club is the drug den that everyone knows it to me & it's security are disgusting savage pigs. I will lay charges, talk to reporters & do everything I can to show this club for what it really is."</div>
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<b>or</b><br />
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<b><a href="http://hellopeter.com/shimmy-beach-club/complaints/assault-1609395">Assault</a></b> "... <b>I was warned by the security who put a AK47 gun pointed at me that my band would be taken off</b> I and I wouldn't be allowed inside again because I was in and out. Yesterday I walked out once to go put my sunglasses in the car because it was getting dark and I did not want to keep it with me all night. As I was walking out <b>the same security threatened to smack me</b> if I walked out again and will not be allowed back in. At round about 8pm my friends came and I had their tickets. So I walked out to give them their tickets but <b>was pulled to the side and choked by that same security</b>. I pay to be at this party. I am not doing anything wrong or illegal, is this place a prison that you not allowed to go to your car even?"</blockquote>
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As we expect Shimmy to pursue legal actions against us publishing these facts, <b>we ask all people with specific knowledge of the operations and/or shareholding at Shimmy to contact us with evidence!</b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aek3lfaQRww/VosL4Xt_-lI/AAAAAAAAAB8/rlTuJn4oZw8/s1600/Shimmy-Beach-Club-Mark-Lifman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Aek3lfaQRww/VosL4Xt_-lI/AAAAAAAAAB8/rlTuJn4oZw8/s640/Shimmy-Beach-Club-Mark-Lifman.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here is a copy of the article from the <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/sunday-times/20140629/281672548034698">Sunday Times from 29 June 2014 by Pearlie Joubert</a><br />
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The story Hennig and partners don’t want you to read</blockquote>
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SOUTH African business tycoon <b>Walter Hennig</b> holds the “ultimate beneficial ownership” of Cape Town’s trendiest restaurant and nightclub, Shimmy Beach Club — linking him to one of Cape Town’s most notorious gangster-businessmen, <b>Mark Lifman</b>.</blockquote>
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Lifman, who is under investigation by the directorate of priority crimes (the Hawks) for running his security company, Specialised Protection Services (SPS), illegally, is also understood to be the subject of scrutiny by the South African Revenue Services for tax evasion.</blockquote>
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The Shimmy Beach Club, built on the south arm of the Waterfront on the water’s edge, is a firm favourite among Cape Town’s elite.</blockquote>
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Since its opening in December 2012 — which was attended by the likes of mobster boss and alleged murderer Radovan Krejcir — celebrity guests have included Oscar Pistorius, Olympic swimmer Ryk Neethling, and Danny K and his wife, Lisa Gundelfinger.</blockquote>
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The Sunday Times can reveal that:</blockquote>
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Hennig, the owner of Palladino, among numerous other companies and trusts, has invested “vast amounts of money” in Shimmy Beach Club, listed as “offshore funding” in company records;</blockquote>
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According to two sources, Lifman also sank a cash “loan” into Shimmy and provided security and restaurant equipment to it with Hennig’s knowledge. “Shimmy obtain [ed] certain restaurant supplies and security services from two entities that our clients understand are linked to Lifman . . . by September 2013 all agreements with these entities had been terminated,” said Werksmans attorneys in an e-mail to the Sunday Times; and</blockquote>
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A lease agreement between the Waterfront and a company registered as 138081 trading as East Pier Beach Club, signed in December 2011, links Lifman’s Lifmar Trust and a former employee of Shimmy directly to what is now known as Shimmy.</blockquote>
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Hennig denies that Lifman has links with Shimmy, although Lifman boasts on his website of his association with the upmarket club. This, despite Hennig claiming that he has instituted legal action to get Lifman to retract the link.</blockquote>
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Lifman, a property mogul who allegedly owns more than 60 properties, including clothing stores, clubs and restaurants in Cape Town, has also had a long business association with Jerome “Donkey” Booysen, leader of the Sexy Boys gang.</blockquote>
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Recently, the Sunday Times published a photograph of Lifman — sporting an ANC VIP tag — at President Jacob Zuma’s birthday rally in Athlone in the company of former deputy</blockquote>
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Interviews with people close to Shimmy paint a different picture</blockquote>
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minister and current provincial ANC leader Marius Fransman.</blockquote>
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According to documents, Lifman and Shimmy’s former chef, Seelan Sundoo, signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2011, two days after signing the heads of agreement with the Waterfront.</blockquote>
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The memorandum states that a shelf company — then called K2011138081 and trading as The East Pier Beach Club — was bought “with a view to establishing a beach bar and restaurant”.</blockquote>
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Sundoo, on behalf of the company, signed a five-year lease agreement with the Waterfront’s chief executive, David Green, in December 2011.</blockquote>
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According to the memorandum, Lifman’s trust would hold 49% of the shares in the company and Sundoo 51% and the company would “contract” with the Waterfront “for the establishment of a beach bar and restaurant”.</blockquote>
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The Waterfront denies it ever signed a lease agreement involving Lifman, insisting it only signed one lease agreement with the club from December 2012 for seven-and-a-half years.</blockquote>
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As proof, the V&A produced a letter dated May 13 2014, confirming “that the V&A have en- tered a lease agreement with Shimmy Beach Club for a period of 7.5 years from the commencement date of 10 December 2012”. But, according to Hennig, the construction of Shimmy started in August 2012 — five months before the lease date.</blockquote>
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East Pier’s lease agreement required it to pay R500 000 towards “planning and development consents and approvals”.</blockquote>
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Hennig conceded in a letter from his lawyer that Sundoo conceived the idea of Shimmy and that Lifman and Sundoo identified the site and applied for the lease.</blockquote>
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However, Hennig’s trust declined to invest in the project “for a number of reasons, including that it did not wish to be associated with Lifman”.</blockquote>
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But interviews with people close to Shimmy paint a different picture to the one presented by Hennig — sources say Lifman did indeed invest money in Shimmy “in the form of a loan that was paid back”.</blockquote>
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“He [Lifman] made a cash loan . . . The lease from the Waterfront was in place to build and develop this funky beach restaurant . . . His loan was paid back. At the beginning, Lifman also provided security to Shimmy. It was no secret,” a source close to Shimmy said.</blockquote>
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This person asked not to be named “fearing these guys”.</blockquote>
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One of the unsolicited Werksmans e-mails to the Sunday Times said: “Shawn Mace, a well-known and experienced restaurateur . . . and Sundoo established a joint venture that Lifman was not involved in.”</blockquote>
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This newspaper was unable to obtain this new company’s lease agreement with the Waterfront.</blockquote>
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“The Waterfront was specifically told that Lifman was not involved in the new venture, which was a joint venture between Mace and Sundoo . . .</blockquote>
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“On the basis that the barrier [Lifman’s involvement] was no longer an issue, Mace approached the Trust [Hennig’s] to invest in Shimmy. The trust agreed to invest in Shimmy,” said Hennig through Werksmans.</blockquote>
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“Lifman has never held any shares, or claim for any shares, or had any stake whatsoever, in Shimmy,” said Hennig.</blockquote>
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His lawyer said that the investment amount in Shimmy was “sensitive competitive in- formation”, adding that “the structure of the company is of no concern to you save that Mark Lifman is not involved at all.</blockquote>
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“There are no proxy shareholders in Shimmy,” said the lawyer.</blockquote>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14530777608536070961noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7661378848993309754.post-25605360377513543822014-11-18T01:29:00.000+02:002016-01-05T01:31:35.792+02:00Mark Lifman in "Cape Town’s underworld"<br />
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The Institute for Security Studies has done some research titled "<a href="https://www.issafrica.org/publications/papers/cape-towns-underworld-mapping-a-protection-racket-in-the-central-business-district">Cape Town's underworld: Mapping a protection racket in the central business district</a>" which we would like to quote here:<br />
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Specialised Protection Services<br />
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Shortly after Beeka’s death companies and networks were amalgamated that had previously been rivals and had been operating in various forms for decades. Former Beeka allies such as Jacques Cronje, some former ‘Maroccans’, including Housain Ait Taleb, and former rivals such as Andre Naude headed the security company. The company SPS (represented with the code PRBUSPS), was supposedly under the leadership of businessman Mark Lifman (code BUML), an infamous property developer, and was allegedly supported by the Booysen brothers, who were allegedly the leaders of a Cape Flats street gang known as the ‘Sexy Boys’. The development of this company was accompanied by serious threats and extortion as it muscled its way into the city’s security system.<br />
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The company was shut down a few months after its establishment because it did not register correctly with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority, and Lifman and Naude faced 300 charges related to its illegal operation. However, payments (i.e. extortion) still continued, according to fieldwork interviews. The growth of SPS and its impact in the city centre led to large number of reports primarily published by Independent Newspapers that investigated the links among the various groups and the historical links with Beeka.<br />
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Two of the most notorious nodes associated with SPS were Mark Lifman and Jerome Booysen, the alleged backers of the company. It is believed that Lifman sought to take over Beeka’s operation in the Cape Town CBD after the latter’s death. Having already invested heavily in both property and entertainment venues in the CBD, it is thought that Lifman saw himself as the new ‘controller’ of the CBD, and the security racket that Beeka ran was extremely lucrative.<br />
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Lifman occupies a peculiar role as he is not part of any traditional criminal ‘gang’ and is instead a highly networked actor with links to high-ranking individuals who operate in both the criminal and legitimate business and entertainment sectors. Lifman has a vast business portfolio and owns a number of properties in the city and CBD, as well as a number of clubs and bars. His business interests also include several fashion labels, and he was recently reported to be interested in investing in the manufacturing of ‘cheap white’ cigarettes. He had also been involved in the horse-racing industry, before being banned by the Jockey Club after intimidating and assaulting a jockey with Yuri Ulianitski.<br />
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Lifman has a mutually beneficial relationship with Jerome Booysen and his brother Colin. Up to 2006 Jerome had been a city employee for 20 years and made a significant fortune with Lifman in property development, particularly in the suburb of Belhar, where the Sexy Boys operate. His previous position in the city administration was in the housing department, and although this was seen as a legitimate job, his family maintained violent and ruthless control of Belhar and he was accused of murder three times. His brother Michael, who as of January 2014 was serving a life sentence for murder, was seen as the previous leader of the gang and was suspected of being involved in over 50 murders during a bloody gang war when the brothers wanted to leave CORE, which was an agreement among various gang leaders drawn up in 1998. Jerome had previously held the position of CORE vice president, suggesting he was highly placed in the criminal hierarchy while in his position in the city housing department.<br />
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Booysen is widely regarded as the head of a violent gang and his support of Lifman allegedly enabled Lifman to try to ll the power vacuum created by Beeka’s death without using much violence. Jerome Booysen has recently come under further suspicion of organised crime because properties in his name have been used as drug laboratories. In the community of Belhar he is both notorious and feared. He is the head of the Belhar Rugby Club and has played a prominent role in the community.<br />
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What is noticeable about this particular group is that it is heavily invested in an array of businesses that provide for those involved, quite apart from being potential cover for laundering the proceeds of crime. While Booysen’s gang has also arguably taken on a ‘criminal governance’ role in the Belhar region, its potential to commit acts of violence has had an impact outside the geographic region where it is most involved.<br />
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When the speculation around SPS took place, Lifman and Booysen were also able to arrange a meeting with a former executive mayor of Cape Town and the current MEC responsible for community safety, Dan Plato. It is also known that Plato has on numerous occasions met with Booysen in Belhar, given Booysen’s influence in the area. This does not suggest a corrupt relationship, but rather illustrates the potential reach of Booysen’s social network into the political realm, and the social and economic influence actors like him wield </blockquote>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14530777608536070961noreply@blogger.com17