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Legal
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Nelson Mandela’s Daughters Are At It Again, Suing Their Father For His Money And Artwork
20 May 2013 by Gabi October / No Comments
Nelson Mandela versus his daughters, Zenani Mandela-Dlamini and Makaziwe Mandela and former lawyer Ismail Ayob. Mandela’s current lawyer, Bally Cheune believes Ayob to be behind the court order to obtain Mandela’s wealth and artworks.
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For Sale: Half-Built House With Cinema And Cigar Lounge, Previously Owned By Wayward Militant Youth Leader
22 Apr 2013 by Gabi October / No Comments
Julius Malema’s Sandown home in Johannesburg is going under the hammer to cover his tax bill.
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Ex Fidentia Boss, J Arthur Brown Found Guilty Of Fraud
18 Apr 2013 by Gabi October / 2 Comments
J Arthur Brown has been found guilty on two counts of fraud in the Western Cape High Court today. Brown had handed in a document last week admitting to two major charges of fraud. He faces 15 years in the big house
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Lance Armstrong Sells Texas Home For A LOT Less Than The Asking Price [PICS]
12 Apr 2013 by Gabi October / No Comments
Last week, a texas businessman obtained a $3,1 million (R26 million) loan to purchase former good guy, Lance Armstrong’s sprawling estate. Newspapers reported that the buyer did not pay anything close to the property’s reported $10 million (R89 million) value.
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The Offshore Secrets Of The World’s Super Wealthy
05 Apr 2013 by Gabi October / 2 Comments
Yesterday, literally thousands of financial secrets regarding offshore accounts of the super wealthy were leaked. The “largest journalism collaboration in history” involved nearly 100 reporters sifting through 2,5 million documents which detailed the identities and activities of 120 000 offshore companies.
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HSBC Faces Fresh Set Of Money Laundering Allegations
19 Mar 2013 by Gabi October / No Comments
Banking Giant, HSBC has a fresh set of allegations of illegal activity in Argentina to answer to. The Argentinian government alleges HSBC used “fake receipts” to facilitate money laundering and tax evasion to the tune of $77 million (R706 million) in that country. Argentina’s tax authority has filed criminal charges against HSBC. HSBC said they [...]
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Dalai Lama Debacle: South African Government Acted Unlawfully, Court Rules
29 Nov 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
The Supreme Court of Appeal has just stated that the South African government acted unlawfully when it delayed a decision on a visa application by the Dalai Lama. Do you remember the saga about the fact that the Dalai Lama couldn’t come to South Africa to celebrate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday in October [...]
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Court Rules Google Must Pay For Libelous Search Result
27 Nov 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
Australia has decided that search results that Google publishes amount to content that the company “publishes”, and is therefore responsible for.
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Could The LIBOR Scandal Be “The Biggest Consumer Fraud In History”?
12 Jul 2012 by Albi P / No Comments
Over the past few weeks we’ve brought you several reports regarding the increasingly worrisome LIBOR scandal. The investigation into interest rate-rigging debacle is quickly snowballing and analysts have now begun wondering if “16 of the world’s largest banks have perpetrated the biggest fraud in history.”
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Auction Alliance Escapes The Noose Yet Again
12 Jul 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 1 Comment
This is what happens when you couple shoddy detective work with a good legal team. Auction Alliance has won its third straight victory in line with exonerating itself from any penalty relating to the Appelbaum auction rigging scandal.
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Confirmed: Barclays Not Alone, As Chairman Quits
02 Jul 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the regulator of all providers of financial services in the UK, has today confirmed that Barclays was definitely not acting alone, nor was this an isolated case in the authorities’ probe of banks rigging a key interbank interest rate.
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New Cape Town Cellphone Law In Effect
02 Jul 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 4 Comments
Talking and texting while driving is somewhat of a cultural phenomenon in South Africa. There are those that are law abiding, but there are also those that don’t seem to care, and throw caution to the wind. But now Capetonians will face a R5 000 fine, and have their phone confiscated for a day for transgressing the law, it was reported in the Cape Times this morning.
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Could The Barclays Scandal Prompt Investors To Run To SA For Cover?
29 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
On the back of news that Barclays bank was punished with a record fine of £290 million by UK authorities for interest rate manipulation, comes the speculation that the crisis, said to involve numerous banks around the world, could help push investors toward South African shores.
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Barclays Fined £290 Million Over Libor Fixing
28 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 1 Comment
Well this is terribly worrying. Yesterday, Barclays bank – one of the biggest banks in the world – was fined a record £290 million for attempting to manipulate the world’s benchmark borrowing rate – the Libor. This is a huge blow to the bank’s reputation and raises questions over the future of chief executive Bob Diamond. Up to 40 other global banks face being named and shamed too.
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SA Government Receives R25 Million Donation For Wildlife Crime Fighting
27 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
The Department of Environmental Affairs (read: the South African government) has welcomed (obviously?) the Council of the Global Environment Facility’s approval of R25 million worth of funding aimed at strengthening the current wildlife forensic capabilities in South Africa. The donation will help combat wildlife crimes like rhino poaching.
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Auction Alliance Wins Second Court Victory In A Week
22 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
Judgement was handed down yesterday afternoon in the Cape High Court that means that the application for a warrant sought by the Estate Agency Affairs Board to search the offices of Auction Alliance in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg, was temporarily rejected. The auction house won’t be counting its chicken before they hatch, though.
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Fruit And Veg City Responds To Public Outcry Over Selling Endangered Fish
21 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 7 Comments
Fruit and Veg City has been taking a social media lambasting from irate consumers that caught the fresh food retailer selling endangered fish species in a few of their stores. Debate was intense, with both customers and Fruit and Veg City getting in on the action. The retailer has since issued an official statement detailing how they plan to handle the situation of endangered fish “slipping through their nets”.
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SARS To Get The Power To Search And Seize Without A Warrant
20 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 1 Comment
Soon the South African Revenue Service will have the power to search and seize relevant material without the need for a warrant, a tax expert has today told the City Press. The Tax Administration Bill could “have serious and significant ramifications” for taxpayers, the expert continued. However, this doesn’t appear to be a bad thing, if you’ve got nothing to hide.
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Auction Alliance Wins Court Case Against NCC
19 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 2 Comments
Yesterday, the Western Cape High court handed down a judgement that ruled that National Consumer Commissioner, Mamodupi Mohlala-Mulaudzi, acted outside of her powers when she summoned three Auction Alliance executives, including Rael Levitt, to appear before the National Consumer Commission earlier this year. It’s a notable victory for Auction Alliance, but doesn’t rule out a criminal investigation into possible fraud.
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A Skype Call In Ethiopia Now Carries A 15 Year Jail Term
15 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 1 Comment
Things have been less than fun with respect to freedom of speech and freedom of expression in the landlocked central African country of Ethiopia in recent years. And they just got worse. Because now a simple 30-second Skype call could land you in jail.
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Former T20 Billionaire Allen Stanford Sentenced To 110 Years In Prison
15 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 1 Comment
Former T20 cricket enigma and ex-multi billionaire, Allen Stanford, has been sentenced to 110 years in jail for defrauding investors of $7 billion. Stanford was also ordered to pay back $5,9 billion, which he doesn’t have, because he lost everything.
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Reveal Day: The New .Com Domain Names Are Coming
14 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
Yesterday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the international body that regulates the Internet, released its list of applicants for new .com alternatives. There are obvious ones like .amazon and .hsbc, but less obvious ones like .ninja have also crept in. A few South African companies also got involved.
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5FM DJ Euphonik Hands Himself Over To Police
07 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / 1 Comment
Reports claiming 5FM DJ Euphonik assaulted his media personality ex-girlfriend, Bonang Matheba, last week, went largely unnoticed in the press. But we can now reveal that one of 5FM’s top-rated DJ’s has handed himself over to the police, following three criminal charges that have been laid against him by Matheba.
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Nasdaq To Reimburse Facebook Investors $40 Million
07 Jun 2012 by Bearded Wiseman / No Comments
You might have picked up in the Morning Spice headlines that the Nasdaq stock exchange said it “owe[d] the industry an apology”. It’s gone a little further now, and says it will set aside $40 million to reimburse investors that suffered losses due to technical problems on Facebook’s first day of trading.
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