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Book excerpt - The gruesome death of an innocent man

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Excerpt provided by and published with permission from Jonathan Ball publishers. Available now from all leading bookstores.

His burnt body lay on the undercarriage of his overturned car, the only part still recognisable as human was his smooth skull, but even that was damaged.

A scan later revealed that Ian Jordaan’s teeth had been smashed out.

For the police, attorneys and businessmen who have been in some way involved with Krejcir, it is this image that haunts them – the body of an innocent man lying on the car – because everyone who had died so far had lived and died by the gun.

Each one had in some way been a part of the murky underworld of international crime: Kevin Trytsman, a wheeler and dealer who claimed to be involved with intelligence, Lolly Jackson, a strip-club king who was laundering money, Cyril Beeka, a mafia boss who straddled the underworlds of Cape Town and Joburg, and Chris Couremetis, a drug dealer.

Everyone had expected Jackson to leave so much money behind that his family would be swimming in it.

Even Uwe Gemballa had a cloud hanging over him, with rumours that he had been involved in money laundering for Krejcir.

But Ian Jordaan?

Jordaan was a lawyer who had been representing Jackson for years. He had been in charge of winding up Jackson’s complicated multimillion-rand estate. All he was ever tainted with was doing his job.

An innocent man, he died a gruesome death.

On 20 September 2011 at 12.44 pm, Ian Jordaan sent a fax from his office at Jordaan & Wolberg, on Louis Botha Avenue in Norwood.

It was sent to Karla Strydom Attorneys and concerned a claim on the estate of Emmanuel (Lolly) Jackson: ‘Your client is hereby notified that the claim as lodged against the estate is rejected … Based on the documentation and information presently at our client’s disposal, I can find no proof of the alleged loans as referred to in your client’s claim.’

Jordaan’s client was Jackson’s widow, Demi, and the person whose claim he had just rejected was Krejcir, through his wife’s company Groep Twee Beleggings (Pty) Ltd. The fax was a final rejection of claims of several millions of rands that Krejcir had made on Jackson’s estate.

Trying to wind up Jackson’s estate was proving to be an incredibly complicated task for the lawyer who had been by Jackson’s side through numerous court battles in all the sleaze king’s various run-ins with the law. Everyone had expected Jackson to leave so much money behind that his family would be swimming in it. But the colourful character had one fatal dislike: paying taxes.

And this came back to bite his family while they were still trying to get over the shock of his brutal death.

According to the will filed in the Gauteng Master’s office, Jackson left an estate estimated to be worth about R200 million, not counting the Teazers businesses or the fleet of luxury cars he had been so famous for.

The money was to be split between Demi and Jackson’s three children, Samantha, Manoli and Julian.

The will listed four properties, together valued at R33.4 million, furniture and household effects worth R300 000, intellectual property for the Teazers group valued at R80 million, letting enterprises of R70 million and various policies worth R41 million.

The smallest amount named was a judgment order in a court case worth R1.25 million. Jackson was said to have a fleet of 14 cars estimated to be worth more than R42 million.

But in the file was a letter from SARS indicating their interest in the contents of the will, and they weren’t looking at taking a million or two. It appeared that Jackson owed the taxman a significant amount of money.

After the man who ran the Teazers in Durban, Shaun Russouw, sued Demi Jackson for millions saying he owned half the Teazers logo and brand, Demi said people kept on coming forward trying to claim a piece of the estate: ‘People think there are millions and millions out there, but they don’t seem to understand that those millions are going to the taxman. I sold the Kloof Road property to give money to the taxman and I had to give a R10 million life policy to the taxman.’

He would always do his best for his client and had been trying to keep Krejcir away from Demi, who was being harassed

SARS eventually won an application to have two curators appointed to take control of Jackson’s assets. The tax bill was said to be as much as R100 million.

Krejcir was one of the people also wanting a share of Jackson’s stash to come his way.

On 30 May 2011 a claim was submitted to Jordaan’s firm by Strydom on behalf of Katerina Krejcirova’s company.4 Everyone knew that her name was there in name only: Krejcir was the real owner behind the business.

The claim was for various debts Krejcir claimed had been allegedly incurred by Jackson. Later the creditors included Groep Twee Beleggings, Krejcir’s mother, and Czech company DKR Investments Praha (the acronym referring to Denis, Katerina and Radovan).

Krejcir’s lawyers had sent through acknowledgments of debt that Jackson had purportedly signed before he died indicating he owed Krejcir money. Jordaan had been trying to get Krejcir’s lawyer to send further proof of these claims, but none had been forthcoming.

It appeared the loans to Jackson had been transacted through overseas accounts and there were no bank statements showing the money had swapped hands. So Jordaan rejected the claim by fax.

Six hours later he was dead.

Jordaan was known to be trustworthy and supportive of the family. He would always do his best for his client and had been trying to keep Krejcir away from Demi, who was being harassed to pay the debts.

He told Krejcir’s manager, Ivan Savov, to stay away from Jackson’s widow and to deal only with him. He put himself in the firing line, as lawyers often do, when he hit the ‘send’ button on the fax. One hour later, at 2 pm, he left his office. He was going to meet a potential new client, he told his colleagues.

They had no idea who the new client was.

Later he called his secretary and told her a man would be coming to the office to collect his laptop and that it was in order for her to give the computer to the man, who, he said, would be wearing a pink shirt.

Jordaan’s fiancée, Joanne Rizzotto, worked for the same firm.

She became concerned hours later because the motorbike Jordaan had travelled to work on was missing and he had not returned from his meeting with the client.

He had taken his bakkie to the meeting, so she could not understand how the bike was gone. The couple were meant to travel together to their home in Kyalami together at the end of the day. Rizzotto filed a missing person’s report at Norwood Police Station.

At 9 pm an overturned silver bakkie was found under a bridge on the Broederstroom Road, near Hekpoort in the West Rand – almost 80 kilometres away. The number plates revealed it was Jordaan’s car.

On top lay his body. Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini of the Gauteng Police said that it was burnt beyond recognition.

To purchase a copy of the book, visit Takealot.com.

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