Markus Jooste’s former girlfriend, Berdine Odendaal, has been unsuccessful in her application to force the Reserve Bank to release R150,000 a month for her living costs and extra cash for legal fees, after she depleted almost R1.7m in her account in a year.
The Reserve Bank suspected that Odendaal’s properties at Paarl’s Val de Vie estate, vehicles and cash came from Steinhoff International businesses via Jooste’s Mayfair Speculators.
The central bank believes R60m was ultimately transferred to her between 2011 and 2015 from Steinhoff via Mayfair, and that contravened exchange-control regulations.
In April 2021, the Reserve Bank attached her properties, including two cars, and blocked her bank accounts and assets worth more than R25m, according to the Daily Maverick.
The Reserve Bank preservation order against her assets, and a later attachment of Jooste and his wife’s assets, allows the bank to seize the assets as the proceeds of crime if a criminal case is ever successful. The blocking of assets ensures the cash and assets are not sold or hidden.
From July 2021 to March 2022, Odendaal had been allowed to access R150,000 a month for living expenses and legal fees, including two one-off payments to help settle a tax dispute and an insurance payment.
But as that money dwindled with only about R158,000 left in the Nedbank account that once held R1.7m, she required a further R150,000 from other accounts and more money towards legal fees. She requested more money for legal fees in letters to the bank.
The Reserve Bank argued she had nullified the monthly agreement with them when she requested extra money for legal fees as they had been covered in the R150,000 as per the agreement. They say that although she had not intended to break the contract, she did so and therefore they no longer were contractually bound to provide her with R150,000 a month.
She took the Reserve Bank to court in 2022 saying it had breached the agreement when it stopped paying her R150,000 a month.
On Thursday, Cape Town high court judge Derek Wille ruled against Odendaal’s request for cash for legal fees and R150,000 a month in living costs — including R80,000 to look after her horses.
She had claimed some of her constitutional rights were breached.
The Reserve Bank said she did not provide the required information about her costs of living and assets, as requested.
“Despite the invitation extended to the applicant to make a full and frank disclosure in her replying affidavit of assets, income and expenses, she has elected not to do so.
“A complete and frank disclosure by the applicant may have put the respondent in a better position to make a more informed and considered decision on whether to exercise its discretion to release any other portions of the blocked funds.”
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