Court not sold on Machanik’s plea

Embattled property baroness Wendy Machanik was dealt a double blow yesterday when the Johannesburg High Court upheld her barring from trading as an estate agent and ordered her to pay the legal costs of the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB).

The property veteran, 64, whose successful estate agency empire recently fell to pieces amid claims that she embezzled R25 million of clients’ deposits, may not get involved in anything that has to do with selling or buying properties, Judge Jody Kollapen ruled yesterday.

His ruling followed last week’s application by the EAAB, which sought to interdict Machanik and Wendy Machanik Properties (WMP) from operating as estate agents after she failed to furnish the board with audit reports for the company.

“For as long as first (Machanik) and second (Wendy Machanik Properties) respondents have not been issued with fidelity fund certificates for the 2011 calendar year, first and second respondents are interdicted from trading as estate agents,” the former chairman of the Human Rights Commission ruled.

He cast a spotlight on Machanik’s credibility, saying she had failed to challenge allegations levelled against her which included an affidavit in which a former employee claimed she had forced them into engaging in unethical acts.

“The unchallenged sms of Ms Machanik (to conveyancing secretary Fiona Chaitowitz on January 8) shows a clear indication of the respondent’s desire to instruct staff to engage in unethical acts… a proper case has been made,” Kollapen said.

In its application, the board argued that if Machanik continued to operate, she would be circumventing a December court order which interdicted her from operating trust accounts.

The order was made after a forensic investigation by Pasco Risk Management services (commissioned by the EAAB) uncovered that Machanik had dipped into trust accounts, making about 116 transactions totalling R25m and channelling huge amounts of money into her company account.

The money was allegedly used to fund staff salaries and Machanik’s extravagant lifestyle.

Machanik, who never filed answering affidavits to the board’s application but a counter application in which she sought to be issued with a certificate, argued in an affidavit that the board had erred in declining her the certificate as she operated independently of WMP as an estate agent.

“They are taking away her bread and butter. There was no basis for the board to withhold her certificate. There cannot be justification,” Machanik’s advocate Terence Ossin argued, adding that the board had acted unconstitutionally.

But board lawyer Hiram Slomowitz SC said the board could not issue the certificate to Machanik as that would go against provisions of the Estate Agency Act. - Saturday Star