Luxury car allegedly bought with investor funds in collapsing KleuterZone scheme.
The Western Cape High Court granted an urgent interdict on Friday, preventing John Bougas, KleuterZone founder and director Anthonie Bougas’s brother, from selling his luxury vehicle.
Rikus Hartman, the provisional liquidator of KleuterZone Operations, brought the application, arguing that the vehicle should be preserved as part of the insolvent estate’s assets as it had been purchased with investor money.
KleuterZone Operations was placed in provisional liquidation on 18 March.
Mathys Krog, the attorney who brought the liquidation application, noted that KleuterZone Operations was one of the many companies the beleaguered nursery franchise used to receive investor money.
In the court documents Moneyweb has seen, Hartman stated that John Bougas took his Audi E-Tron GT 350 KW to a dealership – Audi Centre Claremont in Cape Town – intending to sell it. The dealership flagged the transaction as suspicious due to the liquidation proceedings and did not proceed with payment.
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“Given that the vehicle was purchased with investor funds, it rightfully forms part of the estate, and any attempt to dispose of it would be unlawful and prejudicial to creditors,” Hartman stated in the application.
He requested that John Bougas be interdicted and restrained from selling, transferring, or disposing of the vehicle and that the dealership be directed to retain possession of the vehicle pending the finalisation of the application.
The application also sought to authorise the Sheriff of the High Court to take possession of the vehicle should any attempt be made to remove it from the dealership or interfere with its preservation.
Moneyweb understands Bougas wanted to sell the vehicle for R1.2 million, while the retail value of a new model is around R2.7 million.
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Sequestration
The application for the interdict follows Hartman’s application on Monday, 31 March, to sequestrate the bank accounts of Anthonie Bougas, who has since fled to Bangkok, Thailand.
The sequestration application, which will be heard on Tuesday in the Pretoria High Court, is not opposed. The court papers for the sequestration application include comprehensive bank statements from KleuterZone Operations and Anthonie Bougas’s personal bank accounts.
Hartman noted that the complex structure of KleuterZone, with its various trade names and subsidiaries, including KleuterZone Operations, made it possible for Anthonie Bougas, as the sole director, to move funds around between the bank accounts of the various entities.
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According to Hartman, KleuterZone appeared to be a “single, unified corporate structure. ” However, closer examination suggests substantial interlinking of funds and operations between the entities. “The complex structure created financial opacity,” he noted.
Moneyweb began investigating KleuterZone after being approached by concerned investors who were promised returns of up to 72% in some cases from what was perceived to be a national franchise of nursery schools.
Even though Anthonie Bougas declined to provide Moneyweb with financial statements, it soon became evident that the schools could not generate the required income to meet the exorbitant returns promised to investors.
ALSO READ: KleuterZone fails to pay March dividends and rent
KleuterZone funds financed a lavish lifestyle
KleuterZone is believed to have operated as a Ponzi scheme, with funds from new investors paying the returns of existing investors.
Hartman noted that it had been established that Anthonie Bougas used the various business accounts of KleuterZone’s management and operation companies to transfer funds into his personal bank accounts to cover expenses unrelated to the operation of schools, including buying luxury vehicles and financing overseas trips and gambling sprees.
Anthonie Bougas also used funds from KleuterZone Operations to allegedly pay for John Bougas’s treatment in a rehabilitation centre.
According to Windeed, John Bougas owns a car dealership with a similar name in Stellenbosch, of which Anthonie is a director.
According to its website, the dealership specialises in trading in luxury vehicles.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
