An Amanzimtoti businessman was rearrested on August 5 for failing to abide by the court judgment handed down in 2020 after he was found guilty of swindling millions from investors in an elaborate foreign exchange (forex) trading scheme.

Henk Van Zyl owned a company called QPT Trading, which had branches in Amanzimtoti, Ballito, with the head office based in Newcastle. Hawks spokesperson, Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo, said between 2009 and 2014, Van Zyl would accept cash from his victims, telling them that he was investing their cash in forex trading, promising them a 5% return per month. In total, around R7 million was paid by the unsuspecting investors to Van Zyl.

“The contracts were signed and he then paid out a few monthly returns to the victims, but he abruptly discontinued paying. A case of fraud was subsequently opened at the Umhlali police station and the docket was allocated to the Hawks from the Durban Serious Commercial Crime Unit to investigate. As a result, almost R4.5 million was recovered and paid back to the investors,” said Mhlongo.

In October 2020, Van Zyl was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment wholly suspended for five years, on condition that he is not found guilty of the same offense during the period of suspension. He was also sentenced to house arrest and community service.

Van Zyl agreed to pay back the outstanding R2.4 million in instalments of R40 000 on a monthly basis through the clerk of the court. A well-placed source, known to the South Coast Sun, who is up-to-date with the case, said Van Zyl allegedly failed to make the R40 000 monthly payments that he had agreed to.

“When the Hawks revisited the case as he was not complying with the judgment, it was revealed that the case docket and the charge sheet had gone missing. This meant the court had to use other legal means to re arrest him and send him to jail on the same judgement,” said the source.

On Friday, the Hawks descended on an address on Bunting Place in Amanzimtoti where he was arrested.
He appeared in court on the same day and was released on bail. He appeared again on August 8 and the case was postponed to August 18. In the meantime, he has been asked to surrender his passport, and is required to report to the police in Durban to sign twice a day as he gave a Durban address as his full-time residence.

Van Zyl was given a chance to respond to the new allegations, but he said he would only respond once the court case had been concluded.