An allegedly bogus lawyer has been accused of forgery as he attempts to hang onto his houses and cars, avoid sequestration and save his career, says a Sunday Times report. Patel Muhamed, also known as Mohamed Ismail Patel, said in court papers his wife, Fatima, had ‘received her Islamic divorce (from me) according to Sharia law’ through the Majlisush Shura al Islami council in Cape Town.

The divorce document, handed in to the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court, where Patel is challenging the seizure of his assets by the provisional trustees of his estate, was purportedly signed in August 2016 by Rugaya Gabier. But in an affidavit, trustee Eileen Fey said Gabier had retired from the council four (4) years earlier.

Patel also submitted a July 2016 letter from law firm Liddle & Associates confirming his divorce, but Fey said the firm had distanced itself from the letter. ‘Gabier . . . has no knowledge of the divorce certificate. It is clear the ‘certificate’ is a forgery,’ Fey said. ‘The effect thereof is that Fatima’s assets vest in the trustees.’

Fey and co-trustee Abduruman Moollajie have summoned Patel’s family for ‘interrogation’ as they investigate the disappearance of millions of rands from the lawyer’s insolvent estate.

The Western Cape High Court ordered Patel’s provisional sequestration in December following an application by Sivalutchmee Moodliar, a trustee of the insolvent estate of the Coe Family Trust. Patel was a joint trustee of the estate, on which Absa has a proven R17m claim.

The High Court will hear Patel’s arguments in the sequestration application next week. The Cape Law Society’s application to have Patel struck off the roll for allegedly falsifying his qualification will be heard later next month.

Full Sunday Times report (subscription needed)