Beyers Realty Group plot thickens

Cape Town - The mystery surrounding the millions that "disappeared" from the trust account of Beyers Realty Group has increased, with the part owner of the agency now also seemingly unreachable.

"People are starting to wonder where Beyers and his partner are. Are they still in South Africa? Nobody seems to be able to get hold of them," a Fin24 user, who wanted to remain anonymous, said on Monday.

David Erleigh, attorney for Beyers Swanepoel Trollip, a 50% shareholder in Beyers Realty Group, however told Fin24 his client is very firmly in Cape Town with his daughter, and "whoever suggests that Beyers is not in the country is being malicious".

Erleigh confirmed that Beyers' business and life partner, Leonard Swanepoel Trollip, has left the country.

Beyers Swanepoel Trollip told Fin24 on Friday that he was shocked to discover that about R6m was gone from his trust account, which according to him had been audited just recently.

He repeatedly emphasised that, while he was focusing on doing sales, his partner was in charge of the financial side along with a team of four people.

In a bid to allay clients' fears, Trollip said: "Basically I am turning to the media now in order to assure my clients and the public at large that I am not running away. I did nothing wrong and the police are investigating the case."

He emphasised repeatedly that he only wants to put his clients at ease that he is not "running away".

Trollip said he has laid charges against his financial team at the SA Police Service and also "reported everything" to the Estate Agency Affairs Board. His attorney confirmed this.

Trollip claimed on Friday that he was unable to get hold of his partner.

"I do not know what happened to the money, but I am going to get to the bottom of this," Trollip told Fin24 at the time.

Trollip said he started the real estate business about three years ago and the business is in a 50/50 partnership. The agency has branches all over Cape Town as well as the rest of South Africa, and employs about 100 people.
 
Because of his extensive experience in the real estate business, Trollip said he was in charge of sales, while his partner handled the financial side along with a team of four.
 
"We made good money and were living our dream," said Trollip.

That was until he received a call last week from an attorney demanding certain sums of money for deals that have gone through. That was the first time Trollip claims he was made aware by his auditor of the millions "missing" from the trust account.
 
"I could not believe it. Just recently the business received a clean audit," claims Trollip.

"I now suspect that my trust account has been completely abused. An investigation is, therefore, now under way to establish what happened to the money and - more importantly - who was responsible."

* This article has been updated to include comment from Beyers Swanepoel Trollip's attorney.