Businessman Hoosein Mohamed — the former MD of insolvent jewellery chain Arthur Kaplan, in custody for allegedly assaulting liquidator Laila Motala — was in his hospital bed when he was allegedly subjected to a surprise search by a forensic investigator and sheriff of the court.
The team descended into his ward on Wednesday afternoon, intent on seizing any electronic devices he had access to while a patient at the Morningside Medi Clinic.
His lawyer Mohseen Mayet, in a confirmatory affidavit, said he had to abandon consultations when he received a call from Mohamed informing him of the search. He immediately responded and arrived at the hospital to find Mohamed lying in bed surrounded by the police, the sheriff, a forensic investigator and an independent attorney.
“I, acting in conjunction with [lawyers] Ian Levitt and Francois Botes SC have obtained instructions from Mr Mohamed to oppose the application which was brought on an ex-parte basis, while our client is not only incarcerated but also severely ill. It is an abuse of the court process and this simply strengthens our client’s belief that the applicants are using the justice system to drive an illegal corporate agenda against him, which is the underlying ulterior motive,” Mayet told TimesLIVE Premium.
Mohamed was arrested on June 1, after a violent altercation at the Arthur Kaplan head office in Sandton, when Motala visited the premises in the course of her duties. Mohamed is alleged to have stormed into the meeting, assaulted her and pointed his firearm in her face.
After his arrest Motala discovered high-end watches and jewellery worth an estimated R50m had gone missing from stores across the country in a co-ordinated heist. She laid theft and fraud charges against Mohamed and other accomplices in a case police have confirmed is under investigation — though Motala says no action has been taken since the docket was opened on June 6.
The lack of action led to Motala and her co-liquidator Gladys Ngobeni approaching the Joburg high court this week for an urgent application for permission to “search the room or cell in which the respondent (Mohamed) is present” and seize evidence.
In terms of the order, the team was entitled to seize the items, examine them and the forensic experts permitted to copy, capture or mirror all the evidence and to ‘download or create a data dump of online or hosted data’ determined to be evidence.
The evidence, according to the order, was “any and all digital devices” — including cellphones, laptops, tablets or anything under Mohamed’s control that could contain “correspondence, data, messages, WhatsApp messages or notes” relating to a list of 61 identified key words, as well as any devices able to access email addresses belonging to Mohamed and his personal assistant, Ammaarah Ismail.
In terms of the order, the team was entitled to seize the items, examine them and the forensic experts permitted to copy, capture or mirror all the evidence and to “download or create a data dump of online or hosted data” determined to be evidence.
The seizure was to be overseen by an independent attorney, and the evidence was to be kept by the sheriff until the liquidators authorise its release either to the court or back to Mohamed.
Mohamed was given three days to object to the seizing of the evidence, and it was further ordered that neither the running of Mediclinic Morningside nor the Sandton police station be “disrupted by the execution of this order”.
When served, Mohamed was reportedly instructed to hand over all digital devices and call for the presence of his own attorney within an hour. Before the arrival of his lawyer, he was to comply with the independent lawyer and the sheriff. He was reportedly informed that any obstruction, destruction of evidence or willful disobedience on his part would constitute contempt of court and be punishable.
The 60-word list of evidentiary search terms included: Arthur Kaplan, jewellery, Rolex, Hublot, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Frederique Constant, Tissot, Montblanc, Raymond Weil, watches, rings, bracelets, diamonds, flight tickets, aeroplane, Dubai, keys, store, Sandton City, Gateway, World’s Finest Watches, bank account and Laila Motala.
According to Mayet, Mohamed co-operated fully and was later, after having undergone a CAT scan, searched again for more devices. There was a stand-off as Mohamed declined to be repeatedly searched again, but eventually conceded.
According to Mayet, nothing more was found, and “the entire process ended at about 8pm”.
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