Pastors and church members in court
The trial wherein a pastor, his wife and three other members of his church are accused of operating a pyramid scheme started in the Middelburg Magistrate's Court.
Martin Visagie, his wife Elaine Letitia Visagie, Velnice Mostert, Gregroy Irvin Short and his wife, Deborah Lorraine Short, are said to have promised investors sky-high returns and moved millions of Rand from one account to the next. They were arrested in 2009 when the alleged scheme collapsed and promised returns could no longer be paid out to investors.
They were all released on R2 000 bail. Shortly after their arrest, lt. kol. Leonard Hlathi, police spokesperson, said that many people fell pray to the scheme, investing their pension money, selling off property and even taking out a second bond on their houses to be able to pay the deposits.
Visagie and his co-accused initially faced 75 charges of fraud. According to the charge sheet, they now face 262 criminal charges which includes acting in contradiction with the banking laws of South Africa and money laundering.
According to the charge sheet, which spans several pages, Martin Visagie became the member of a closed corporation named Elaine Martin Enterprises CC in 2006. His wife Elaine is listed as his spouse and business partner.
Velnice Mostert is listed as a receptionist at the church who had signing rights to the bank account of the CC. Gregory Short is listed as the spouse of Deborah Short and a 50% shareholder of a CC named Divinie Life and Spirit.
The accused persons allegedly received deposits from the public which was paid into their own accounts or that of the enterprise and from there over to the enterprise of Wayne Jones, a pastor from Johannesburg, named Six 23 Networks or to him directly.
The returns paid to Jones and Six 23 Networks then allegedly earned up to 400% interest which was paid back to Elaine Martin Enterprises and from where 300% interest were paid back to investors.
Visagie later allegedly had to start using deposits paid by investors to pay out the promised interest to other investors.
The five accused are said to have operated a “ponzi-scheme” where they obtained money from the public, issued certificates to investors guaranteeing them a certain return and promised them entry into certain competitions.
The scheme of Elaine Martin Enterprises is accused of being a money circulating scheme with no substantial underlying business.
They are accused of conducting business like a bank by receiving deposits and of recruiting for deposits and for exacting R18,1 million in that way.
Martin Visagie is accused of being a member of Martin Luke Fast Foods trading as Black Steer Restaurant since November 2006. He also became a member of Graco Labour Enterprises CC and Perma Construction CC since 2005.
The accused then allegedly made themselves guilty of kite-flying by creating false turnovers by cross depositing funds between Elaine Martin Enterprises, Martin Luke Fast Foods, Graco Labour Enterprises and Perma Construction of which Martin Visagie had a share in or control of.
They are also accused of divesting assets in favour of Perma Construction and to the detriment of the insolvent estate of Elaine Martin Enterprises.
Lastly the accused is said to have obtained property with the financial returns obtained irregularly.
The case was postponed for three days in July for the trial to resume.
