The JSE has fined former Luxe CEO Helena Grewar R7.5m for selling shares in a closed period, noting that she did not co-operate with its investigation and ‘obstructed’ the JSE's regulatory process, reports BusinessLIVE.

Grewar more commonly goes by the name Althea Cloete. 

Luxe, which owned Arthur Kaplan Jewellers and NWJ, became mired in controversy as owners linked to the failed Aurora mine saga took over almost immediately after Grewar had amassed a 34.9% stake in the firm.

Luxe’s listing on the JSE was terminated in 2023.

The individuals from Aurora working at Luxe that took over when Grewar bought a minority stake, included consultants Faizel Bhana and Bashir Moosa, attorney Ahmed Amod and former Aurora directors Tony Chammas and Thulani Ngubane.

The Pamodzi Grootvlei gold mine near Springs went from being a working mine to one that was not running, with equipment looted, 5 300 workers unpaid and serious environmental damage after it was taken over by Aurora Empowerment Systems from October 2009 to May 2011.

This is the third company the group has been involved with that left behind a string of unpaid creditors and then went into liquidation.

Grewar, or Cloete, breached JSE-listing rules, when she sold shares to Johannesburg business Hoosein Mohamed in December 2022, in a closed period. 

Mohamed was later arrested and jailed for a month for pointing a gun at one of the liquidators of NWJ, one of Luxe’s subsidiaries.

The JSE said that the prohibition on dealings during a closed period is designed to ensure that markets operate fairly and to promote investor protection and confidence.

The JSE said Grewar did not participate in the investigation.

‘Notably, Grewar’s refusal to acknowledge or engage with regulatory correspondence, or to operate with the JSE’s investigation, casts serious doubt on her commitment to compliance and indicates a lack of transparency and accountability, fundamental to sound corporate governance. Grewar’s actions obstructed the JSE's regulatory process and undermined its effective oversight of market integrity.’

The censure means she is prohibited from being a director of any listed firm for five years. The local bourse said she was well versed in the listing requirements but failed to uphold them.

Luxe was once Taste Holdings, which owned Starbucks, Dominoes Pizza and the Scooters food chains.

Luxe, along with liquidated insurance firm Constantia Insurance, is another failed venture linked to investor Sean Riskowitz.

His firm, Protea Capital Management, sold stakes in Luxe to Grewar in late 2021 and early 2022, reports BusinessLIVE.

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