In an effort to recover nearly R500m in debt from a company that had drawn the attention of the slain insolvency expert, Investec has won a court bid to put in control of trustees the joint spousal estate of Michelle Singh, a former director of BIG Business Innovations Group.
Cloete Murray and his son Thomas were in hot pursuit of the millions of rand BIG fraudulently siphoned from Investec on the day they were shot.
BIG is equally owned by Singh and her brother Rushil.
Investec was two weeks ago granted a provisional sequestration — under which a court-ordered trustee would be responsible for managing their assets, settling debts and distributing any remaining funds to creditors — of the joint estate of Singh, and her “estranged” husband Steve Killick.
Before his murder in 2023, Murray had been working on multiple insolvency cases, including trying to unearth the reasons behind the collapse of a public traded company called Constantia and overseeing the liquidation of Bosasa, a company ensnared high-profile politicians in state capture.
Investec successfully argued before the court that the joint estate owed it nearly R500m. The joint estate’s indebtedness to the bank arises from various sureties Singh provided to Investec for the indebtedness of BIG and an entity called 12 Infinite Innovations — wholly owned by Rushil.
Investec told the court that BIG was one of the main entities through which Singh had pursued her business and professional affairs, which entailed a multimillion-rand business with operations in SA and Ghana.
Investec said Singh provided further guarantees in respect of a liability of 12 Infinite and four instalment sale agreements pursuant to which Investec financed the purchase of motor vehicles for BIG.
Investec crystallised the payments it pays to BIG, 12 Infinite and related entities as follows:
- R35m working capital to BIG’s Ghanaian business Ghana Infrastructure Company (GIC) in January 2021.
- Rushil and Singh signed a joint and several guarantees for BIG’s indebtedness to Investec in terms of the working capital facility agreement.
- In April 2021, Investec made a facility in the amount of R150.7m available to BIG.
Investec said when it launched the sequestration application in February last year, a month before the Murrays were killed, the joint estate owed it R180.5m plus interest and a further R281m, which arises from Singh having guaranteed BIG’s debts.
The bank told the court that evidence of fraud came to light in the course of an inquiry, which it asked for under company laws. The inquiry, under section 417, is an intrusive tool in the hands of liquidators looking to recover misappropriated assets, and whose conclusions can lead to directors being declared delinquent and facing criminal charges.
Investec said it triggered the inquiry when Stanbic Bank Ghana declined to honour two demand guarantees Singh had supplied to Investec in respect of the working capital facility agreement and the term loan agreement, saying that they were fake or forged. It is this inquiry that the Murrays were involved in, according to News24, which first reported on the fraud allegedly perpetrated by the Singhs against Investec.
Investec said it sought the sequestration, because the total assets of the joint estate comprise R181m, whereas the liabilities comprise R475.8m made up of liabilities to its private banking division in the amount of R189.5m and R281.6m arising from the GIC debt.
According to Investec, the joint estate has the following immovable assets: three properties valued at about R28m, located in Portugal, Hermanus and Waterkloof and R153.3m comprising the assets of both Killick and Singh which includes cars, retirement annuities and investments, Kruger coins and art.
Despite Killick producing evidence before court that his signature on the guarantees BIG furnished to Investec and Stanbic Ghana was forged, this was not enough for the court to sequestrate the joint estate.
He told the court that while he and Singh were staying in the same house, they had been estranged since 2013.
“I have filed a complaint with the SA Police Services in respect of the fraud committed against me in order for SAPS to investigate who is responsible for the forgeries. I do not know who is responsible for the forgeries,” Killick told Business Day.
“If one considers the papers filed in the sequestration application, it will be evident that I have never been involved in Michelle Singh’s or her brother’s businesses,” he said.
Singh and Killick have until November to provide reasons why the sequestration order should not be made final.
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