PISTORIUS LAWYER FOR ROOTS CONSTRUCTION

Advocate Barry Roux outside court during Oscar Pistorius’ trial.

MBABANE – Oscar Pistorious’s lawyer Barry Roux is expected to jet into the country today to represent Roots Construction in its matter against Inavit (PTY) Ltd.

 Advocate Roux represented the South African Olympic and Paralympic sports hero who was charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.  Pistorious was, however, found guilty of culpable homicide.
Roux has been instructed by lawyers from Mdladla and Associates.

 He will be coming to the country for the second time after he successfully moved a bail application on behalf of Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament Marwick Khumalo.

In his submissions during Khumalo’s bail application, Roux described some of the allegations against the legislator as nonsense.
He was called to the Johannesburg Bar in 1982 and is now a Senior Counsel - South Africa’s version of a Queen’s Counsel. In his 31-year career, he has represented a string of high profile clients. 

He acted for Dave King, a Glasgow-born businessman and Rangers Football Club Director, who was accused of defrauding the South African Revenue Service of £60 million. He also represented Roger Kebble, a mining magnate, on charges of alleged tax evasion.  Described by one commentator as a ‘very talented and ethical practitioner who will do his best for all his clients’, Roux is thought to be earning between £3 000 (E54 420) and £5 500 (E99 770) per day for his defence of Pistorius.

An online profile says his practice ‘comprises criminal, insurance, delictual, aviation, matrimonial, medical negligence, general contractual and liquidation work’.

Observers describe Roux as a legal gun for hire who is not motivated by altruism. In the 1990s he reportedly acted on behalf of Lieutenant-General Lothar Neethling, an apartheid-era police chief, who sued newspapers for damages over claims that he supplied a toxin to be used on anti-apartheid activists. oux’s other cases include dentist Casper Greeff, convicted of murdering his wife, and businessman Dave King. More recently, he was involved in the prosecution of mining magnate Kebble, the father of politically connected murder victim Brett Kebble.

Meanwhile,in the matter, where the advocate is expected to appear today, it is alleged that a sum of E11 million was siphoned from the bank account of Roots Construction.
A former director of the company Andrea Patrick Nassi is alleged to be the one behind the transactions. Nassi is suspected to have colluded with some employees at First National Bank (FNB) to transfer some of this money to South Africa.

It is alleged that Nassi was assisted by Charles Bethel who was the head of Commercial at FNB. These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose veracity is still to be tested in court.

Part of this amount was allegedly transferred to Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa to an account held by Nassi. Director of Roots Construction Reuben Msibi took them to court where he obtained an order to freeze the accounts where the money was being held.

Msibi alleged that on or about  September 12, 2011, they took a resolution to have Paulo Samini and Nassi as signatories in the company’s (Roots Construction) bank account. He alleged that on or about November 2013, when the auditing of the company was being done, it came to his attention that an amount of E15 million had already been transferred out of the company’s account. “I then decided to investigate and I made several efforts to access information from Nassi but there was a total refusal by FNB to provide me with details,” Msibi stated.
He said this was shocking because he was the director of Roots Construction and a majority shareholder.

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