A 69-year-old North West attorney, Barend Botha, has been released on R5,000 bail after being arrested by the Hawks for allegedly stealing R130,000 from a dead client’s estate.
Botha was arrested on Tuesday, August 11, by members of the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit in the North West. He faces a charge of theft.
According to North West Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Tinyiko Mathebula, Botha De Wet and Roodt Attorneys was appointed in June 2016 to assist with the administration of a dead client’s estate.
“Over R130 000 was reportedly transferred from the deceased’s bank account into the trust account of the law firm,” she said.
Mathebula said the investigation revealed that Botha allegedly failed to transfer the money to the beneficiary.
Botha made his first appearance in the Klerksdorp Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and was granted R5,000 bail.
The matter was postponed to September 30 for his next appearance at the Specialised Commercial Crime Court sitting in Klerksdorp.
The case comes amid renewed scrutiny of the handling of client trust funds by legal practitioners.
Last month, IOL reported that former attorney Solomon Slom, 82, was sentenced to an effective 10 years in prison after being convicted on 145 counts of theft and 145 counts of money laundering linked to the misappropriation of millions of rand from a client’s trust account.
According to the Hawks, the case against Slom was registered at Rosebank police station in February 2024 before being assigned to the Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit in Johannesburg.
Slom, who was attached to Fluxmans Attorneys, had been entrusted with administering a client account containing about R45 million. An internal audit by his business partner later uncovered extensive financial irregularities.
The Hawks said the audit found that Slom had stolen R39 million through more than 140 transactions between January 2019 and January 2024. The money was transferred into his personal bank accounts.
Following the discovery of the theft, Slom resigned from the law firm with immediate effect. He later handed himself over to authorities on August 26, 2024, and was arrested in connection with the theft. He was granted R50,000 bail that same day.
The Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court convicted Slom on June 5, 2026.
On July 8, he was sentenced to 10 years’ direct imprisonment for the theft charges and a further 10 years for the money laundering charges.
The court ordered the sentences to run concurrently, meaning Slom will serve an effective 10-year prison sentence.
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
IOL News
