The Sisters said in court papers they initially invested about R6 million with Robert Gourrrege nine years ago. Their investment portofilio was now worth nearly R11.7m.
They said they became worried when they recently wanted to cash in on some of their money, but Gourrege ducked and dived.
They
had to obtain a sequestration order against him as they feared he
would fritter away his assets and they would not see their money again.
Sister
Anne Flynn, the general superior of the missionaries, said in a
statement before court that Gourrege had approached the missionary in December 2005 and offered to assist them with investments. He was
trading under the name of Acorn Insurance Brokers at the time.
They invested R6m in various unit trusts, and from time to time he accounted to the missionaries regarding the investments.
Flynn
said this was done on letterheads generated by different management
vehicles utilised by him. A statement issued by him in January showed that their investment had grown to R11.69m.
The court was told that last year, the missionaries wrote to Gourrege, requesting an amount of R200 000 a month to use for operational costs. They subsequently received one such payment of R200 000.
Flynn met with Gourrege and he promised to rectify the situation. But no money was forthcoming and he did not respond to phone calls or e-mails. “The standard reply he gave when we tried to
contact him was that he was ill and could not take the call,” she said.
Another
sister at the mission phoned each unit trust company mentioned to see
whether their money was in fact invested. In each instance she was informed that no such investment account had been opened.
It was also established that some of the companies used by Gourrege were not registered at the Companies Office.
The Sisters laid a complaint with the Financial Services Board and the ombudsman for financial service providers.
Flynn said it was clear that the money they had invested with Gourrege was no longer available and that he had used bogus management entities and false company names.
She also accused him of fabricating unit trust statements and said this was tantamount to fraud.
She said he was “unscrupulous with no morals and would fritter away the money if given a chance”.
Gourrege did not file any papers defending his actions.
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Follow us on Twitter:
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011 27 10 500 8203 (calling from outside of South Africa) (Available 3-5pm SAST weekdays)
*Note: Views expressed in the commentaries on this website are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of PEFM 87.6or our presenters or correspondents. Quotes are obviously the opinion of the source. A quote is just a quote and these are offered without comment. Use of a news story or commentary is not an endorsement of the source website.
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