A brewing war between liquidators and feuding families in the ongoing saga of the multimillion-Rand Arthur Kaplan jewellery heist has taken a new turn, with claims and counter-claims over a family heirloom taking centre stage.

While in prison after being denied bail, former Arthur Kaplan director Hoosein Mohamed has opened a case with the police against Enver Motala, whose daughter Laila is the liquidator for Arthur Kaplan.

She has accused Mohamed of assaulting and threatening her.

The case opened against Motala revolves around a R400 000 payment from jewellery outfit NWJ, a sister company to Arthur Kaplan, to a company owned by Motala. 

TimesLIVE reports that Mohamed says he was forced into a R400 000 bribe to Motala – but Motala insists the money was from NWJ, which bought a family heirloom from his wife.

Motala, also a liquidator, claimed there was a lot of pressure on his daughter to withdraw the charges against Mohamed, who has been in custody since his arrest for the alleged assault on 1 June.

The conflict centres on an 18 carat white gold diamond solitaire ring, with claw set diamonds on a shank, which Motala said was sold to NWJ.

According to an affidavit by Mohamed, he has evidence of a WhatsApp conversation, purported to be between himself and Motala, in which Motala instructs Mohamed to pay the bribe into his account, or face financial ruin.

Motala, who claims the WhatsApp exchange was manufactured, shared a copy of the apparent invoice to show the money was for the ring.

Full TimesLIVE report