Corruption & Criminality

CORRUPTION & CRIMINALITY:
THE BACKGROUND TO THE CAMPAIGN

Screenshot 2025-01-21 130117-EDIT_edited.jpg

Background

This document and the many that feed into it read like a script for a Netflix thriller. Much seems to defy reality. But every statement above and below is factual. Evidence exists to prove every allegation.

I have suffered patrimonial losses in excess of R200 million.

Inversely, those who started and ran the campaign against me have benefited by a similar sum. If any one explanation were needed as to their motivation for an astonishing array of criminal, illegal, and immoral behaviour, it is the tens of millions each stood to gain. And each has gained since.

in addition to these losses, there are very substantial non-patrimonial losses/damages. Harder to calculate, these relate to the two illegal arrests, two illegal/wrongful imprisonments, and multiple other infringements of my liberty, person, finances, and reputation. Resulting from a campaign that set out to humiliate, degrade, ruin, and ultimately expunge me. Quite literally.

The campaign also raises very significant issues that have implications far beyond what was, in essence, a very personal war. These are alluded to in the section titled “Issues of Wider Significance.”

The Ease of Weaponizing the State

The ease with which private individuals were able to harness the power of the state, the effect of private individuals weaponizing the state to aid in a personal campaign against another private individual, the ease with which numerous departments of state were used and abused in this campaign as well as the complete failure of those departments to acknowledge and investigate the wrongdoing

FACT FILE

THE BACKGROUND

I have suffered patrimonial losses exceeding R200 million, while those behind the campaign against me have profited similarly. Beyond financial loss, I have endured wrongful arrests, imprisonments, and severe damage to my reputation and personal freedom. More troubling is how easily private individuals manipulated state institutions to serve their agenda, weaponizing government departments with no accountability or investigation into the misconduct.

The Campaign

In brief, I had leased five large properties in prime locations along the Atlantic Seaboard. In return for investing millions in each, I was offered and granted long leases with the premise of sub-leasing to overseas tourists to recoup my investment of time, expertise, and money. Once that investment had been recouped, I would turn a profit. All of this was only possible because of the premium rent derived as a sole and direct result of my transformations of the properties.

Once transformed, however, the landlords grouped to steal back the properties, my investment, my contents, furnishings, and artworks, and the more than R100 million premium rental income that I alone had created.

The involvement of many was the result of a series of lies told by the mastermind of the campaign, Wouter de Swardt, his primary client Keith Broad/IB, and founding member Paula Disberry who passed on the series of lies told to her by LR verbatim, without thinking it necessary to validate them.

Whatever these people may claim in retrospect, the motivation was greed and self-advancement.

FACT FILE

THE CAMPAIGN

I invested millions into transforming five prime Atlantic Seaboard properties under long leases, generating over R100 million in premium rental income. Once profitable, the landlords, led by Wouter de Swardt, conspired to reclaim the properties, my investment, and assets through deception and greed.

The Con Trick

Importantly, it later transpired that the proposed arrangement on one of the properties (16 LR) had been a con trick from the outset; a premeditated plan to induce me to expend large sums of money, time, and expertise transforming the property with the explicit intention of taking it back once works were completed, so that it could be sold at a premium and the owner's debts settled. Paying no consideration whatsoever to me.

FACT FILE

THE CON TRICK

The arrangement for 16 LR was a premeditated con, designed to lure me into investing time, money, and expertise in transforming the property, only for it to be taken back and sold at a premium to settle the owner's debts

The Consortium

This grouping of landlords became known and referenced in multiple court papers (civil and criminal) as “the consortium,” no more than shorthand for the various people who made up the grouping. A term we use in this document, but not a formal or self-styled title by those involved.

It does not matter if they are termed an alliance, grouping, gang, cooperative, or consortium. The fact remains that they worked together to achieve common goals.

A notion that those involved would disagree with existed. As if it did, the potential liability in a whole host of “conspiracy to” issues would be exponential.

To achieve their goal of taking over the properties, I have been the subject and victim of a professionally coordinated and well-funded campaign to ruin me financially and reputationally. In a cynical and ironic twist, doing so by creating various narratives to hide their theft, including the creation of the scam narrative (which we deal with below and in several related documents), as well as the ludicrous justification for the repeated attempts (both ‘legal’ and illegal) to take the properties by misrepresenting my transformation of the properties as "damage.”

Having combined forces, the consortium went on to hire a private investigator, Wouter de Swardt, to coordinate their campaign and achieve their shared goals. Primarily because of his willingness and ability to break the law, his contacts within SAPS, ones that he was prepared to exploit to the fullest. With no fear of the consequences, those relationships themselves provided a forcefield against investigation or prosecution.

The Campaign's Components

The campaign included two illegal arrests and two illegal detentions regarding me, as well as the illegal arrest and wrongful imprisonment of others that got in the way. Incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison, widely accepted as one of the top ten worst prisons in the world. The first time for three weeks in August 2022, and the second for three months in December 2022. The result of demonstrable malicious prosecutions, numerous attempts at obstruction justice, and manipulation of the police, courts, and criminal justice system.

The period of remand starts and finishes in line with the lucrative peak season in Cape Town.

In addition to the malicious prosecutions, there were perjury on an industrial scale, two dozen (attempted and successful) illegal evictions, multiple assaults, intentional and concerted efforts to destroy my business, six dozen attempts to take down the platforms that I used to advertise the villas, intentional planting of false stories in the media, and interference with and obstruction of justice, including attempting to rig both bail applications.

As well as the attempt after the second arrest to cause chaos and loss for hundreds of guests in the peak and summer period that followed. With the PI Wouter de Swardt, his clients, and SAPS intentionally not informing the platforms of the change of control, with the explicit purpose of causing hundreds of guests to arrive at the villas expecting their stay only to find control had changed hands in December. An attempt in the absence of victims to create them and then misrepresent them as evidence of fraud.

At the latest count, over five hundred individual offences have been committed in pursuit of their goals. Other than the Psira investigation, not one of which has even been investigated. At the time of writing this, no one has yet paid a price for any of their crimes or illegal behavior.

All of this is only possible because of the involvement of certain corrupt SAPS officers

"Motivation for Campaign"

A group of landlords, later referenced in legal proceedings as “the consortium,” collaborated to seize my transformed properties, using false narratives to justify their actions while avoiding liability

Weaponizing the State:

Private individuals & state personnel harnessed the power of the state and weaponized it against me. There is lack of oversight, accountability and consequences. Institutions charged with policing the police and ensuring those in charge of enforcing the law, observe the law, are under resourced, apathetic, disinterested and ineffective.”

Illegal Evictions Disguised as Arrests

The arrests, especially the December arrests, were illegal evictions in disguise.

This is an alarming turn of events in itself, with implications far beyond this campaign. Creating a means by which any landlord with either enough money or the right contacts within SAPS can have their tenants evicted on demand and effectively to order without any need to go to court. Effectively voiding the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE Act) and the Rental Housing Act, nullifying all the protections afforded to tenants over the decades.

What was essentially a property and asset grab by already wealthy, privileged, and outwardly upstanding members of society also included my possessions, art collection, and all the improvements made to the properties. Returning not one cent of my investment in the properties, not one stick of furniture, not one singular accessory, not one item of the nearly 2,000 I had bought and was present at the point the illegal eviction disguised as an arrest took place.

Not content with this, to consolidate their positions, minimize the chance of counter-litigation and/or recovery action, and remove the opportunity, possibility, and access to the evidence that would identify those responsible, they actively interfered in the bail application process. Including premeditated actions put in place long before the arrests, with the primary goal of extending the period of incarceration for as long as possible. In the hope that my funds and will would expire, resulting in my incarceration for years.

In essence, putting me in prison for months and years for crimes they knew I did not commit purely for strategic advantage and financial gain.

The plan was that if they could engineer a decline of the bail application, the Investigating Officer would continuously seek more time for “further investigations,” thereby delaying the start of a trial for years. In the almost certain knowledge, the case would fall apart if it ever got that far, or when it came before the NPA.

The first arrest was based entirely on fiction; the charges were laid by the owner of one of the properties, where I had taken out a five-year lease just nine months earlier and had paid over a million Rand in rent and utilities since then. I had also fully refurbished the property at my own cost. The charges were palpably absurd: Of "breaking and entering" my own home and stealing three old TVs that I had replaced with brand new ones. As well as the charge of malicious damage, on a property I had spent over a million Rand refurbishing, by misrepresenting the improvements as damage.

The Private Investigator Mr de Swardt and his special friends in SAPS kept me at Hout Bay SAPS for 6 days. Refusing to let me go because of their claim I had intentionally avoided extending my visa, that the Home Affairs Department wanted me for deportation, and that I had never extended my visa since arrival. The latter point was a lie, the other objections were also lies but all the more astonishing as the Investigating Officer Serg Duna knew I had had my passport stolen precisely to block me from extending it, and he knew I had applied for and been granted a visa extension taking me through to 2022, because the Investigating Officer had that stolen passport in his pocket at the time.

Interference in the bail application started immediately. With the charges changed as I made my first appearance for bail. Now the allegations were changed to the theft of the contents of one of the rooms in the house where the landlord had temporarily stored their old junk (the stuff you don’t want to throw out but isn’t important enough to take with when you leave).

And this was changed again when they increased the value of the goods from a few thousand Rand at the point the charges were laid, to almost a million only days later and literally as the bail application was about to start. Done to ensure that the offence became a Schedule 5, ranked with murder and rape. So that the onus switched from granting the accused bail unless extenuating circumstances existed, to one where the onus was to decline bail. Unless extenuating circumstances exist.

Multiple counts of perjury by the Investigating Officer, failure to investigate the storage unit as directed by the judge (as that would have ended the process immediately), and an affidavit (perjury) from one of the other landlords also lying about theft (when the tenancy was still ongoing) to create the impression of a Modus Operandi, an attempt to give extra legitimacy because of the false impression it came from an unrelated source, when in fact it was a coordinated joint action.

In addition, Paula Disberry/PVW had stolen my passport some months before the arrest to deny me the ability to extend my visa so they could label me as illegal. Although they never mentioned they were the reason during the bail application. Or that SAPS had held the passport illegally for months.

Upon receiving my replacement passport, they stole that as well.

This is another example of why it is important to not underestimate the resolve, resources, and reach of the consortium. Less than a week after hiring a firm of private investigators to investigate the consortium, Paula Disberry persuaded the Private Investigators to switch sides

FACT FILE

ILLEGAL ARRESTS DISGUISED AS EVICTIONS

The arrests, particularly in December, were illegal evictions in disguise, setting a dangerous precedent where wealthy landlords can bypass court processes using SAPS connections, undermining the tenant protections under the PIE Act and Rental Housing Act.

Beyond seizing my properties, the landlords took my possessions, art collection, and furnishings without compensation. To prevent legal challenges, they interfered with my bail application, manipulating the process to prolong my incarceration for financial gain.

Fabricated charges, perjury by the Investigating Officer, and deliberate delays were used to portray me as a criminal. My stolen passport was withheld to falsely label me as an illegal immigrant, and even my replacement passport was stolen. The consortium’s reach was so extensive that a hired private investigator switched sides within a week.

Widening the Consortium: The New Disciples

The Private Investigator Firm (ESS) had been hired by me (via MB) to investigate the consortium, to prove that their claims were false, as well as demonstrate the criminality that underpinned the campaign, and to provide a private security detail to protect me from the consortium.

Their loyalty had been flipped with the usual lies about me, with the promise of rewards from recovering the tens of millions in fraudulent proceeds (that did not exist), and with the myth the consortium created of a "suitcase of black diamonds and cash" hidden at my principal home in Llandudno.

A series of lies so effective that the security firm shortly afterwards planned to drug, torture, and murder me, replacing me with one of their own (MB), to pretend I had run away to spend the millions from the scams the consortium had invented.

[This and much more was captured on video and WhatsApp chat exports, including the detailed confession of MB].

FACT FILE

THE CONSORTIUM'S CAMPAIGN

ESS, hired to investigate the consortium and provide security, was quickly turned against me with lies of hidden riches.

Deceived and lured by false promises, they even plotted my murder, plans captured on video and WhatsApp, including MB’s confession.

The Standard Issue Lies, including Interpol, Fake Passports, Secret Bank Accounts, and Diamonds

The consortium, Wouter de Swardt and the SAPS officers used a series of lies to create distrust and fear, including false information about my identity and false allegations about fraudulent activities.

Strange fictions that resembled a bizarre combination of Bernie Madoff and Jason Bourne.

The first collection of lies originated with LR:

I was wanted by Interpol.

I fled the UK.

I fled the UK because I was being pursued by UK police.

I am wanted in various countries for various scams.

I had amassed my fortune through various sham businesses.

I had millions on deposit in secret bank accounts.

I was being investigated for major international frauds.

My art collection was stolen, as was my jewelry collection.

The second series of lies originated with Keith Broad and Paula Disberry and then built upon and used by everyone else in or involved with the consortium:

Anyone associated with me would also be arrested and prosecuted.

I operated an intricate villa scam.

Advertising villas that did not exist or were not mine.

Taking double, triple, and quadruple bookings on each of them.

A scam that necessitated secret duplicate and triplicate profiles of properties.

From which I would siphon money to some of these secret accounts.

The landlords had no knowledge of and never agreed to the subletting.

The MO was to rent the properties, pay a month or two rent, then cease paying.

I had caused extensive damage to the properties and stolen from them.

Those who refused to testify to scripts provided or sign witness statements written for them faced ten to thirty years in prison or immunity if they cooperated.

Every one of those statements was a lie.

FACT FILE

THE CORRUPTION

The consortium, Wouter de Swardt, and corrupt SAPS officers spread lies to instill fear and distrust, painting me as both Bernie Madoff and Jason Bourne.

False claims ranged from Interpol pursuits and hidden fortunes to fabricated villa scams and coerced witness testimonies—none of which were true

The Second Illegal Arrest

The second arrest was justified by breathing life into a civil dispute from a year earlier, which the police had already dismissed as a civil matter. The arrest warrant was declined by a number of magistrates until a friendly one could be found. Outside of the small circle of officers in the pay of the consortium, SAPS and Hawkes officers were duped into thinking they were taking down an international crook.

Crucially, they used the cover of my arrest at my home at 32 Fisherman's Bend to enable and hide an entirely illegal, secret, and unsanctioned side operation to take over the other property in Llandudno. With no official part of any arrest, no warrant, and possibly not even the knowledge of some of the officers involved in the actual arrest.

With the Private Investigator leading the operation, as if the chief of police, accompanied by several officers, they arrested the inhabitants, including the housekeeper, escorting them out, and then later that day letting them go without being charged for anything as per the witness statement of the housekeeper of that property.

Wouter de Swardt, having acquired possession of the keys and 'vacant possession' of the property for his client Keith Broad, used my arrest not just as a perfect cover and distraction but by removing me, they also removed my ability to recover the property. The rightful legal tenant was then held in custody at the Hout Bay police station, where they kept me for almost a week, before transferring me to Pollsmoor where I spent almost three months.

Having learned from the first arrest, Wouter de Swardt et al. had rigged the bail application well in advance.

Their carefully laid plan almost came unstuck when the prosecutor did not object to bail, and the judge granted me bail of R2000. The paperwork was completed, and I was relieved, on my way back to the cell to await release when I was recalled.

The Private Investigator had frantically rung the Investigating Officer after hearing bail had been granted and demanded he stop it. The Investigating Officer contacted the prosecution and told them there were

"At least five more charges on their way in,"

"Some serious issues also coming in from Paarl," and

"The accused was an illegal immigrant who had been flagrantly evading formalizing his stay.”

The Investigating Officer knew no such charges or matters existed. In addition, the Investigating Officer was actually in possession of my passport, so he was very familiar with why no visa extension had been applied for.

None of that stopped him from lying to the prosecution to thwart my release.

FACT FILE

THE CONSORTIUM'S CAMPAIGN

The second arrest revived a dismissed civil dispute, with magistrates rejecting the warrant until a cooperative one was found. Under the guise of this arrest, a secret and illegal operation unfolded, evicting residents from another Llandudno property without warrants or official oversight.

Wouter de Swardt leveraged my arrest to seize possession for Keith Broad, ensuring my inability to reclaim the property. Meanwhile, the bail process was preemptively rigged. Even after bail was granted, a last-minute intervention fabricated new "pending charges" and visa violations, blocking my release with outright lies

The State’s Fatal Error

Chief amongst the state’s many injustices and errors, the Magistrate and prosecution then made a fundamental mistake. I should have been allowed to leave on the basis of the bail granted, and if the police had any evidence sufficient to lay additional charges, then arrest me on that basis.

Instead, I was recalled, my bail was scrubbed off as if amending a food order, the prosecution's objection to bail was noted, and I was sent to Pollsmoor.

My attorneys, for reasons explained below, did not show up for this hearing and were therefore not there to pick up on this serious irregularity and breach of process.

As a result of numerous efforts by the consortium, compounded by the negligence and malpractice of my attorneys, as well as the corrupt involvement of the SAPS officers and the lack of due diligence by the NPA, my "urgent bail application" was delayed for three months before finally commencing on 13th March 2023.

On that day, within a couple of hours or so of the advocate attending court, the prosecution withdrew all the fraud charges.

The Investigating Officer insisted on maintaining the immigration charge, which had been added belatedly with no mention in the arrest or seizure warrant, to maintain control over me and keep me in the country while they tried to create yet more charges. As well as justify the continued illegal retention of my equipment for use by Wouter de Swardt and Keith Broad in their maneuvers in the civil courts to recover the property. Made easier if they could portray their opponent as an illegal immigrant and on bail for criminal charges.

The charge was, in fact, a legal impossibility. The offence I was charged with was “failing to leave SA on March 31, 2021”, even though the Home Affairs Department issued moratoriums throughout 2021 and 2022, automatically extending the visas of everyone who entered SA at the time I did. Despite the fact that the Investigating Officer was aware I had committed no crime and was aware he and SAPS had illegal retention of my passport. Just as Serg Duna had before him, Wouter de Swardt before him, and Paula Disberry before him.

The prosecution agreed, unaware of the details of the charges, context, or background.

Upon receipt of Representations providing them with all three, the prosecution then withdrew that final charge.

During this period of incarceration, the properties were immediately taken over by Private Investigator Wouter de Swardt and his clients.

The owner of one walked in just 5 minutes after I was taken away. The owner’s PA and other staff walked in a few minutes after that. All went into a pre-planned meeting with the Private Investigator Wouter de Swardt and the housekeeper CM (the housekeeper whom they had tipped off and flipped sides prior to the arrest).

And the owner of the other property was the first call made by the Private Investigator after their secret and illegal operation at her property to congratulate each other on recovering the property, their newly found riches, the arrest and humiliation of me, and "putting me away forever this time." “We have got him; He won’t be coming back this time,” as per the witness statement.

Both arrests were initiated and instructed by private individuals: RM, Keith Broad, and Wouter de Swardt. The arrests were conducted on a date of their choosing and timed to best suit the individuals. To the day. No part of that came from SAPS.

They even motivated the involvement of an armed SWAT team with lies about firearms to ensure maximum effectiveness and maximum humiliation for me. Having also already advised the press to be present and having choreographed my exit for maximum exposure.

This media circus was only one of a number of attempts to ruin me publicly by engineering press involvement when it suited. Placing not just biased stories but entirely untrue stories, with what would now seem the blessing of the publications based on their highly questionable response when I sought to clarify matters for them.

As in the first arrest, the bail process was intentionally rigged against me with the aim of making detention as long as possible, if not indefinite, to allow for the property grab to take place, to then be consolidated and to minimize the chance of a successful recovery by me.

FACT FILE

THE CONSORTIUM'S CAMPAIGN

The prosecution made a critical mistake by cancelling my bail and keeping me in Pollsmoor. My attorneys’ absence delayed my bail hearing for three months. When it occurred on 13th March 2023, all fraud charges were withdrawn, but a fabricated immigration charge remained to keep me detained and justify the illegal retention of my property.

Meanwhile, Wouter de Swardt and his clients took control of the properties, with everything timed and orchestrated by private individuals, not SAPS. A media spectacle was staged to ruin my reputation, while the bail process was rigged to delay my release and consolidate their property grab.

My Fatal Errors

I made fatal mistakes. In the case of IB and Keith Broad, I did not see that their circumstances meant the offer of the lease could not have been genuine, and in the cases of the others, I underestimated the greed of the landlords I had contracted with, underestimated the effect that transforming their properties would have on their attitude, and underestimated the multiplying effect of the majority of the income being in foreign currency, with no need to patriate or repatriate funds.

I underestimated both the lengths Wouter de Swardt would go to achieve his goals and the willingness of the landlords to accept his lies as facts.

My business model is not too dissimilar to large infrastructure projects such as toll roads, with almost all of the investment coming at the beginning and the return coming over the long term. This involved leasing properties for the long term, expending millions at the outset, transforming them, then marketing and managing them, and receiving the income over those five years from overseas visitors to repay the investment and turn a profit.

However, in a) adding millions to the property's capital value, b) many more millions to the rents the properties could then command (quadrupling them as an average), and c) the massively improved occupancy rates the transformations had brought about, I became an obstacle to the landlords, who wanted the new premium rents I was receiving rather than the agreed rent they were being paid.

Because I was always up to date with rent and utilities, because I had improved the properties beyond recognition, and because I had broken no terms of the lease, recovery through the civil courts would prove a failure for the owner. However, they did try with various lies as the basis, including misrepresenting the transformation as damage.

So, the individual landlords who shared the same goals and agenda realized they would be far more effective if they were working together, so they collaborated and embarked on a campaign to take the properties back through various means and methods, including:

FACT FILE

THE CONSORTIUM'S CAMPAIGN

I underestimated the greed of the landlords, their willingness to accept lies as facts, and the extent to which Wouter de Swardt would go. My business model involved long-term property leases, investing millions upfront to transform them, and recovering costs over five years through premium rentals to overseas visitors. By significantly increasing property values, rental income, and occupancy rates, I became an obstacle to landlords who wanted the new premium rents for themselves.

Realizing they were more effective together, these landlords collaborated to reclaim the properties by any means necessary. From 2021 to 2023, their actions included illegal evictions, aggravated assaults, blackmail, bribery, perjury, conspiracy to drug, torture, and murder, defamation, fraud, obstruction of justice, and wrongful imprisonment.

Their List of Crimes and Actions

From 2021 to 2023, their methods and crimes have included but are not limited to:

A dozen attempted and actual illegal evictions, including the secret and illegal operation at Leirmans Road under the cover of the illegal operation at 32 Fisherman's Bend.

Using 8 criminal thugs to forcibly enter a property, beat up, and evict the occupants.

Aggravated assault.

Assisting private individuals to nullify court orders and ignore high court orders and interdicts.

Blackmail.

Bribery, including bribing witnesses.

Breaches of the laws governing arrests, including allowing their untreated access to the property during the arrest.

Common assault.

Common law perjury, on an industrial scale.

Conspiracy to drug.

Conspiracy to torture.

Conspiracy to murder.

Contempt of court.

Crime injuria.

Defamation and criminal defamation.

Defeating and/or frustrating the course of justice.

Delicta liability.

Denying the accused their legal and human rights.

Denying me my call to an attorney on the first arrest.

Denying me my call to an attorney on the second arrest.

Embezzlement.

Extortion.

False affidavits.

Falsifying prearrest information, saying guns were at the property knowing this to be untrue.

Forgery, including home affairs documents.

Fraud.

Harassment.

Intimidation of witnesses.

Illegal arrest in August 2022.

Illegal arrest in December 2022.

Illegal arrest of the housekeeper in December 2022.

Illegal arrest of Ollie in January 2022.

Attempted illegal arrest of Ollie and his partner in December 2022.

Impersonating a police officer.

Knowingly inflating the value of goods 2000% beyond their actual value and including goods not even present so the crime would fall within a section 5 offence.

Intentionally causing me maximum humiliation.

Intimidating witnesses, including threatening them with 10 to 30 years of imprisonment if they did not cooperate and sign witness statements written for them and promising them immunity from prosecution if they did.

Introducing knowingly forged home affairs documents and a false consortium affidavit planting multiple media stories.

Keeping me for 6 days at Hout Bay on both occasions on the instruction of the private individuals to provide a head start in stealing the properties' contents and bank accounts.

Knowingly assisting in the rigging of bail applications solely for the purpose of trying to extend the period of incarceration.

Knowingly constructing a protection order based entirely on perjury and serving such while I was in the cells of Hout Bay police station.

Knowingly motivating and allowing private individuals to order a full SWAT team armed raid on my home (on 3 civil disputes dating from 2021 turned into fraud files by police officers at Wouter de Swardt's instruction. Such a case would never have resulted in such a raid).

Knowingly participating in placing an entirely false charge (three times).

Libel.

Lying to the NPA, SAPS, HAWKS.

Misrepresentation by individuals impersonating police officers and/or authority they do not have and of police officers mispresenting authority they don’t have.

Multiple malicious prosecutions (including Wouter de Swardt and Keith Broad in August 2022, Wouter de Swardt and Paula Disberry in October 2022, RM/Keith Broad/Wouter de Swardt in December 2022, Wouter de Swardt/SS in March 2023).

Multiple physical assaults, including by armed thugs with criminal records on innocent and defenseless housekeepers.

Obstruction of justice.

Obtaining arrest warrants from magistrates having already been declined by one or several magistrates with exactly the same application.

Perjury, on an industrial scale.

Physical harm to me.

Police colluding with private individuals and private investigators to specifically engineer as long a remand as possible to enable private individuals to steal property, personal possessions, property contents, and artwork to enable an illegal eviction and steal R6 million of refurbished properties.

Private individuals giving orders for arrests.

Pursuing the accused with no official file or docket.

Refusal to execute high court arrest warrants.

Refusal to take statements to investigate such.

Refusing to attend the storage unit as directed by the judge (in an attempt to avoid dismissal of charges).

Sabotage of due process and court proceedings.

Search and seizure warrants abused, with the search of the property demonstrably not connected with the arrest warrant.

Slander.

Tampering with documents.

Taking instructions from private individuals to enable the illegal possession of property against various court orders, interdicts, and all tenancy-related statutes including PIE, thereby breaching the prevailing high court interdict.

Illegal retention of my equipment, including phones and laptops.

Including the ESS private investigators in the raid who had only a month earlier plotted to murder me.

The many intentional attempts to have my platforms and online advertisements pulled down.

The premeditated plan to create hundreds of victims, causing them millions in losses in an attempt to build a new file on me and aid in the civil and criminal arena.

Setting up an entirely fraudulent property agency, advertising my properties without permission, and taking millions in deposits with no intention or ability to deliver the holidays booked.

Theft and illegal retention of R4 million of contents and possessions.

Theft of R150 million of rental income.

Theft and retention of my British passport (on two separate occasions), interfering in the visa extension processes.

Threats to kill the dog belonging to OS and me.

Threats to my safety.

Tortious interference.

Use of SAPS for purely personal objectives, including using illegal arrest to advance the interests of private individuals and colluding with police in a choreographed pre-planned media ambush at the December arrest.

Witness statements obtained by coercion.

Wrongful imprisonment.

Further, the campaign included print media, with half a dozen entirely fabricated articles published by the media24 Group between August 2022 and February 2023, as well as social media, and constantly contacting platforms to repeat false statements, often claiming the villas did not exist. Something the consortium did on dozens of occasions throughout 2022.

Their Crimes:

Illegal Evictions & Property Theft – Dozens of illegal evictions, property grabs, and theft of R6 million in property and R150 million in rental income.
Violence & Intimidation – Assaults, use of criminal thugs, and threats of violence to intimidate and silence witnesses.
Corruption & Bribery – Bribing witnesses, falsifying documents, and colluding with police to bypass justice.
Fraud & Forgery – Forging documents, creating fake charges, and setting up a fraudulent property agency to steal millions.
Obstruction of Justice – Rigging court processes, illegal arrests, and preventing the execution of court orders.
Media Manipulation – Orchestrating false media stories to damage reputations and spread lies about victims.
Conspiracy & Perjury – Involving multiple parties in drugging, torture, and even attempted murder, all while committing perjury on a large scale.

The Unexpected Resistance

The plan did not go entirely smoothly, in that I resisted. They had expected this “interior designer” from the UK to be a pushover. However, I was not prepared to have what I had worked my life for and invested so much in, stolen like Cuckoos steal a nest from another. But the David and Goliath dynamic and odds (connections, wealth, corruption) meant losing was, in reality, a matter of time. One man, with British citizenship (consistently used against me), ranged against half a dozen South Africans: established, wealthy, connected, and motivated property owners, as well as five private investigators that they had hired to do their dirty work; the police officers they paid to assist; whatever relationships they seem to enjoy with News24; and the many others they motivated to help with lies and false allegations, meant the imbalance of power and resources made me inevitably and eventually lose.

One area the second arrest succeeded where the first had failed was the seizure of equipment. At the first arrest, to give the false appearance he was not in charge, Wouter de Swardt had pulled back once he and the officers had gained entry to the property. When they brought me out to the car, Wouter de Swardt congratulated the officers and asked if they had taken all the laptops, etc. They apologized and replied they couldn’t because of the presence of Central Cape Town SAPS. Brazenly, Wouter de Swardt replied, “next time.”

When the next time came, they made sure to obtain a seizure warrant and duly confiscated every piece of equipment, two laptops, three iPhones, two backup drives, and every item of documentation from the office. In short, every item of data created or received in the previous five to eight years, and the majority of the data in the year prior to that.

The stated purpose was to:

Investigate the allegations and any similar or associated with it, in the hope of finding the evidence woefully lacking in the docket that they had had a year to fill.

Find anything that showed actual fraudulent activity.

The purposes not stated were:

As a fishing expedition in the hope of finding something they could describe or misrepresent as fraudulent.

A fishing expedition in the hope of finding any evidence of criminality which could justify a further attempt at arrest (fishing expeditions are illegal in SA as in most countries).

To prejudice any attempts to defend any charges that may be laid.

To find anything that could assist Keith Broad in his attempt to retake the property while I was in prison.

To disable my ability to mount a defense to the attempt. Having removed the opponent, they now needed to remove the evidence my attorney would need to act on my behalf. After the first arrest, I had been able to point them to my laptop and give guidance as to what they could find and where. With no laptop, no documents, no data, there was little I could point the attorneys towards. What there was would need to be found via other routes, clouds, and such like. That would have taken a) a professional and engaged attorney and b) one prepared to invest resources into a civil matter. My attorney clearly matched neither description.

To disable me in any attempt to recover the properties.

And to disable me in any attempts to bring those responsible for the criminality to justice. Having removed every shred of evidence I could have used at that point.

If the seizure was for an investigation, whether legal or illegal, SAPS could have copied the drives and returned the equipment. The retention of vital data as well as expensive devices disabled my ability to regain any semblance of a normal life.

As at the time of drafting this document, SAPS still illegally hold all of the above devices, equipment, data, documents, and phones.

Necessitating the purchase of a new laptop and phone. Unnecessary expenditure at a time when it could be least afforded, while SAPS held over R100,000 of equipment.

Everything should have been returned when the charges were dropped. SAPS kept them on the basis of further investigation, in itself illegal. And similarly tried to justify the retention because of the bogus immigration charge. But even when that was withdrawn, they refused to return anything. Their attitude was, "well, sue us for it.”

And whilst court action would be almost certain to result in a court order to return everything, as well as a costs order against the state (and yet more expense to the taxpayer), I was not in a position to fund another R100,000 in legal fees.

FACT FILE

THE CONSORTIUM'S CAMPAIGN

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, I resisted their attempts to steal my assets. They underestimated me, thinking I’d be an easy target, but the power imbalance ultimately made my defeat inevitable. During the second arrest, they seized all my equipment—laptops, phones, backup drives, and documents spanning 5 to 8 years. Their true intent was to prevent me from defending myself, disable my ability to recover the stolen properties, and steal crucial evidence. SAPS held onto my equipment illegally, costing me over R100,000 for replacements. When I demanded its return, their response was, "Sue us."

The Police’s Many Crimes

The warrant of arrest and the seizure warrant related solely to the three fraud charges. As soon as those charges were withdrawn, the police should have returned all the equipment, devices, documents, and information. Not only did they fail to do so, but despite a number of requests and eventually formal demands, they point blank refused. Despite having no legal grounds whatsoever for their stance.

It would be fair to assume that considering the state and more particularly the SAPS officer’s long list of criminal offences, as well as the collusion and corruption, they were more than happy to assist in denying me my equipment and data.

Despite the withdrawal of all charges, SAPS unlawfully withheld my equipment, documents, and data, refusing to return them despite multiple formal demands, highlighting their corruption and collusion in denying me my rights.

FACT FILE

THE POLICE'S MANY CRIMES

After the fraud charges were withdrawn, the police had no legal grounds to withhold my equipment, documents, and data. Despite multiple requests, they refused to return them, showing clear corruption and collusion.

Corruption And Criminality: The Weaponization Of The State For Personal Gain

Since obtaining bail, I have tried to pull together as much of the information as I can. There are very large swathes of information and evidence that do require the return of these devices, hard drives, and data. But with the research so far, new discoveries coming regularly, and many issues of which I was not aware until after release, there is certainly no shortage of evidence.

In fact, several hundred gigs and several hundred files of evidence and information have been compiled over the last 16 months.

Including the plan by the consortium, the Private Investigators, and the police to create potentially thousands of victims in an attempt to frame me. By intentionally not informing the platforms of the change of control of the villas after the December arrest, in the hope that hundreds of families would turn up, only to find out on arrival they had nowhere to stay.

The Private Investigator and IB initially ‘camped out’ at one of the properties in order to catch guests as they arrived. [which was in breach of the interdict from the High Court]. Telling the arriving guests a series of lies; that they were victims of an elaborate scam, their bookings had been taken with no intention of providing them with a villa, that they were one of thousands of victims, and that they stood no chance of recovering their money or getting alternative accommodation other than through their own efforts.

FACT FILE

CORRUPTION & CRIMINALITY

Since my release on bail, I’ve uncovered significant evidence of a plot involving the consortium, private investigators, and police to create thousands of victims by falsely representing that bookings for the villas were fraudulent, resulting in arriving guests being left stranded and misled.

The Client’s Personal Impact

The impact on the client is impossible to calculate in all its dimensions.

However, here are some of the more fundamental impacts:

Financial Losses

Loss of rental income estimated to be over R100 million per annum.

Loss of equipment, furniture, and furnishings estimated to be over R10 million.

Legal and professional fees totaling over R5 million to date.

Costs of security, protection, and private investigations in excess of R3 million.

Damage to personal and professional reputation leading to loss of business opportunities.

Personal and Emotional Impact

Humiliation and degradation caused by illegal arrests and wrongful imprisonments.

Fear and anxiety due to constant threats and harassment.

Emotional and psychological trauma from prolonged periods of uncertainty and danger.

Isolation and loss of trust in people, institutions, and processes.

Impact on Health and Well-being

Physical harm and injuries sustained during assaults.

Stress-related health issues exacerbated by prolonged legal battles and uncertainty.

Deterioration in mental health due to continuous harassment, threats, and persecution.

FACT FILE

THE CORRUPTION

The client has faced significant financial and personal losses, including over R100 million in rental income, R10 million in equipment and property losses, and R5 million in legal and professional fees. Additional costs include over R3 million for security and investigations. Emotionally, the client has endured humiliation, anxiety, and psychological trauma from wrongful arrests, threats, and continuous harassment. Health and well-being have also suffered, with physical injuries and stress-related health issues worsening due to prolonged legal battles.