One half of a Gqeberha power couple, Yvette Georgiou, has been sequestrated after she was unable to cough up payments on more than R35m in loans and suretyships she owed to Grobank.

The Herald reports Yvette, along with her husband, previously owned and ran the ultra-luxury Georgiou Hotel and Spa in Gqeberha.

Grobank maintains that Georgiou’s indebtedness came from home loan agreements amounting to R16.7m, lease and instalment sale agreement suretyships in respect of the family’s trust for R6.3m, home loan agreement suretyships in respect of the same trust for R9.6m, and suretyships on behalf of family-owned company Art Holdings amounting to R3.3m.

Most of the couple’s properties were declared executable last year by the Eastern Cape High Court (Gqeberha).

Providing reasons for the sequestration order, Acting Judge Avinash Govindjee said it had been established that Georgiou personally, and by virtue of the signed suretyships, was liable for the debt owed to Grobank.

The bank had also established that her liabilities exceeded her assets, meaning she was factually insolvent.

‘The evidence establishes, on a balance of probabilities, that (Georgiou) owns substantial assets. This should be sufficient to ensure that it will be advantageous to the general body of creditors to sequestrate (her) to obtain some pecuniary benefit to the creditors as a body,’ Govindjee said.

Full report in The Herald (subscription needed)

Judgment