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Port Elizabeth - Last month Fin24 asked why authorities have not acted to investigate allegations that Atlas Finance and Syndicated Debt Collectors are reportedly forging court orders to attach debtors’ salaries – so-called emolument attachment orders (EAOs), better known as garnishee orders.
It is alleged that Atlas Finance would grant somebody a loan, while Syndicated Debt Collectors would collect the money by creating their own court documents after hours and stamping them with a rubber stamp believed to have been made by themselves.
The debtor does not have the opportunity to go to court and a magistrate does not see the relevant documentation to check if the outstanding amount is correct, and if fees adhere to limits set by the Debt Collections Act and the National Credit Act.
Aimee Taliadoros, brand manager at Atlas Finance, issued a statement to Fin24 to dispute these allegations against both Atlas Finance and Syndicated Debt Collectors. Both companies are owned by the same person, Jack Halfon.
“Neither Atlas Finance nor any of its subsidiaries have ever been involved in the production of fabricated court orders or documents as alleged in recent media reports. We are aware that there are documents missing at the courts; however, we are one of many companies experiencing this problem.
"We have reported these allegations to the Hawks and have been assisting the relevant authorities with their investigations since it first came to light just over a year ago.”
Atlas Finance showed Fin24 two other court documents, complete with court stamps, to show that it is impossible for them to have been “manufacturing” court documents.
There are now two documents with the same stamp and a simple Z for a signature lying on a desk. The first is from Summit Financial Partners (who made the allegations) as proof of their suspicions. It is a letter from the court to state that a garnishee order is fraudulent.
The second document is a court order against a debtor, issued in favour of another company for another debt. It has the same simple signature.
Atlas asks how it is possible that the court order in favour of a completely different company can have the same signature if Atlas has been manufacturing their own documents.
Fin24 also has a few other court orders in favour of Atlas, which the Krugersdorp Magistrate Court has said are fraudulent. The signature is different, but also a very simple scrawl – typically that of a clerk rushing through a pile of documents to go on a tea break, and very easy to forge.
As long as court clerks simplify their signatures and use basic stamps without identifying each clerk, only a proper investigation into the whole matter will reveal which are forgeries.
Atlas Finance said that it has already been cleared by the Krugersdorp Magistrate Court of any wrongdoing, and is currently working with the Randburg court in their investigation into the alleged irregularities.
“We believe that these reports emanate from Summit, which has threatened Atlas Finance on numerous occasions after the company refused to submit to its demands for kick-backs. Criminal charges have been laid against the directors of Summit,” said the Atlas in the statement.
Clark Gardner, CEO of Summit Financial Partners, said Atlas has continued to maintain "that they laid a complaint against me and my directors".
“Can they send us the reported complaint and tell me what progress has been made over the past 15 months or so? The Hawks do not seem to have record of such a complaint.”
The accusations and counter claims prove Fin24’s original deduction that a proper investigation is needed: why are authorities so slow to act?
- Fin24
*After chasing money on the JSE for 15 years, Adriaan Kruger is now living a relaxed lifestyle in Wilderness and lectures economics part-time at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
It is alleged that Atlas Finance would grant somebody a loan, while Syndicated Debt Collectors would collect the money by creating their own court documents after hours and stamping them with a rubber stamp believed to have been made by themselves.
The debtor does not have the opportunity to go to court and a magistrate does not see the relevant documentation to check if the outstanding amount is correct, and if fees adhere to limits set by the Debt Collections Act and the National Credit Act.
Aimee Taliadoros, brand manager at Atlas Finance, issued a statement to Fin24 to dispute these allegations against both Atlas Finance and Syndicated Debt Collectors. Both companies are owned by the same person, Jack Halfon.
“Neither Atlas Finance nor any of its subsidiaries have ever been involved in the production of fabricated court orders or documents as alleged in recent media reports. We are aware that there are documents missing at the courts; however, we are one of many companies experiencing this problem.
"We have reported these allegations to the Hawks and have been assisting the relevant authorities with their investigations since it first came to light just over a year ago.”
Atlas Finance showed Fin24 two other court documents, complete with court stamps, to show that it is impossible for them to have been “manufacturing” court documents.
There are now two documents with the same stamp and a simple Z for a signature lying on a desk. The first is from Summit Financial Partners (who made the allegations) as proof of their suspicions. It is a letter from the court to state that a garnishee order is fraudulent.
The second document is a court order against a debtor, issued in favour of another company for another debt. It has the same simple signature.
Atlas asks how it is possible that the court order in favour of a completely different company can have the same signature if Atlas has been manufacturing their own documents.
Fin24 also has a few other court orders in favour of Atlas, which the Krugersdorp Magistrate Court has said are fraudulent. The signature is different, but also a very simple scrawl – typically that of a clerk rushing through a pile of documents to go on a tea break, and very easy to forge.
As long as court clerks simplify their signatures and use basic stamps without identifying each clerk, only a proper investigation into the whole matter will reveal which are forgeries.
Atlas Finance said that it has already been cleared by the Krugersdorp Magistrate Court of any wrongdoing, and is currently working with the Randburg court in their investigation into the alleged irregularities.
“We believe that these reports emanate from Summit, which has threatened Atlas Finance on numerous occasions after the company refused to submit to its demands for kick-backs. Criminal charges have been laid against the directors of Summit,” said the Atlas in the statement.
Clark Gardner, CEO of Summit Financial Partners, said Atlas has continued to maintain "that they laid a complaint against me and my directors".
“Can they send us the reported complaint and tell me what progress has been made over the past 15 months or so? The Hawks do not seem to have record of such a complaint.”
The accusations and counter claims prove Fin24’s original deduction that a proper investigation is needed: why are authorities so slow to act?
- Fin24
*After chasing money on the JSE for 15 years, Adriaan Kruger is now living a relaxed lifestyle in Wilderness and lectures economics part-time at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
