Insolvency specialist Cloete Murray (pictured) was fatally shot two days after filing an urgent application with the South Gauteng High Court to initiate a section 417 inquiry to trace money and assets missing from Constantia Insurance Company, Business Day reports.
Liquidators use a section 417 inquiry under the Companies Act to recover misappropriated assets and can lead to directors facing criminal charges.
Constantia, a subsidiary of JSE-listed investment holding company Conduit Capital, was placed in final liquidation in September 2022.
The High Court placed the insurer under provisional curatorship in July of that year following an ex parte application brought by the Prudential Authority, because Constantia failed to meet the solvency capital requirement and minimum capital requirement prescribed by the Insurance Act.
Read: Constantia Insurance goes into final liquidation
Business Day said its 10-month investigation has established that Murray applied for the section 417 inquiry on 16 March 2023, but he and his son, Thomas, were killed on 18 March. Murray’s application was scheduled to be heard on 22 March.
“Murray, who had built a reputation as a no-nonsense liquidator, was not short of enemies, having tackled some notorious characters and entities, including state capture-linked Trillian and Bosasa, which implicated several high-profile individuals and politicians,” the publication said.
According to Business Day, Murray’s affidavit expressed concerns about Constantia, suspecting manipulated financial records to conceal embezzled funds. The section 417 inquiry would grant the authority to subpoena entities and individuals, compelling them to provide documents and evidence, it reported, adding that nearly R160 million was missing from Constantia’s coffers.
Business Day said Murray also aimed to investigate R580m in claims against Constantia by policyholders and to recover R228m owed by debtors. He requested a confidential hearing, fearing that if the application became public, those responsible for dissipating Constantia’s assets might obstruct the inquiry.
The publication said it has been unable to establish the fate of the inquiry after Murray’s death.
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Will the inquiry into the Constantia insolvency ” missing funds ” continue and by whom or will the death of Cloete Murray and his son stall the process?
This calls for a more in depth investigation as someone is trying to hide something