Gupta lawyer, accused of money laundering, claims media is ‘victimising’ him for ‘playing with the naughty kids’

Gupta attorney Gert van der Merwe admits to, at worst, being naive, but has “never, ever been skelm”.

“It is as if I played with the naughty kids and now I’m being punished too,” Van der Merwe said in reaction to revelations by EWN that he was charged in 2014 for laundering money through his firm’s trust account.

Van der Merwe was arrested in 2014 for his alleged involvement in a R16-million fraud and corruption case emanating from 2010. The essence of the matter was money, claimed to be kickbacks, paid into his attorney account by a businessman which was used to pay off a politician’s debts and do home renovations.

Van der Merwe denied that the case had anything to do with the controversial Gupta family, who he only came to represent after his arrest, or that he ever rendered the same services to the Guptas.

“I’m not a defence attorney and I’ve never represented a client in the criminal court. I’ve only ever busied myself with civil law,” he told Daily Maverick.

“So when I got arrested I approached a senior advocate and on counsel’s advice, I submitted a section 204 (of the Criminal Procedure Act) affidavit. During my second court appearance all charges against me were withdrawn.”

Section 204 indemnifies any witness that might incriminate themselves during testimony in a criminal case if they answer all questions “frankly and honestly”.

The case against Van der Merwe involves former Limpopo Health MEC Miriam Segabutla and businessman Johnny Lucas. Segabutle is accused of taking kickbacks from Lucas to secure tenders in 2010. The trial is still ongoing and Van der Merwe is yet to be called as witness.

He denies culpability.

At the time of the arrest in 2014, Van der Merwe claimed he “wasn’t even sure which client I was accused of laundering money for. I can also assure you I’ve never received a cent that wasn’t owed to me”.

“I never thought I’d be misused like that. Being arrested... it was such an embarrassment. It was highly traumatic for me and my kids. But I have learned a lot from the experience. Once you sit in the police cells you just realise you never want to be there again.”

In the section 204 affidavit Van der Merwe relates how he used funds paid into his attorney trust account to settle Segabutla’s tax debt and paid her daughter’s school fees.

He also describes personally dropping off a “bag of money”, at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria.

“(Segabutla) met me in the restaurant area of the hotel and then guided me to her room on one of the top floors where I handed her the parcel/bag. I recall that a portion of the money was handed back to me to pay into an account supplied by Segabutla. It was for renovations to her house... I can positively swear that I didn’t know who left the parcel at my office and only subsequently learnt that it was Lucas.”

In a written statement in response to the EWN revelations, Van der Merwe said he is being victimised by the media as a result of him representing the notorious Gupta family.

“It, inadvertently, meant that any possible opportunity will be exploited by the media in order to feed narratives through effective channels of communication, sometimes sprinkled with small chunks of truth in order to afford credibility to a story.” DM

Photo: Gert van der Merwe (ENCA)