Transet pension fund seeks Wood sequestration
The Transnet Second Defined Benefit Fund (TSDBF) has launched urgent court proceedings in a bid to sequestrate Eric Wood, formerly the CEO of the now defunct Trillian Capital Partners, a financial advisory firm embroiled in the State Capture scandal.
According to a Scorpio report on the Daily Maverick site, the TSDBF says it has claims in excess of R300m against Trillian and says Wood’s personal estate is insolvent.
It accuses the Johannesburg businessman of having committed various acts of insolvency that prejudiced creditors.
It cites, as examples, Wood allegedly having flogged a R3m McLaren to a luxury car dealership for below market value (R1.3m) and having moved ownership of his properties into trusts within months of allegedly becoming party to a state capture conspiracy in 2012.
At the time, he was one of three directors of Regiments Capital, the company that previously managed more than R9bn in TSDBF assets.
In papers filed at the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg), the fund accuses Wood of allegedly having disposed of valuable assets over a number of years.
This, it argues, left his personal estate with little or no realisable assets of any substantial value. This sequestration bid stems from a separate lawsuit in which the TSDBF claims more than R300m from Trillian – the company is currently in liquidation.
In addition to the Fund’s claim, Eskom previously obtained an order for the company to repay R595m, while the SARS slapped the company with more than R200m in tax bills.
The TSDBF’s sequestration bid is the latest development in a battle spanning four years and which relates to controversial transactions executed by Regiments when it managed assets for the Fund.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
