If we have learnt one thing over the past month or so it’s that folks love reading about a good scandal, especially if one of the parties has taken legal action to prevent their name coming to light.

That old Downton Abbey cheater? People lapped it up, and now South Africa has our own mysterious scandal grabbing headlines.

What we know, according to TimesLive, is that ‘the estranged wife of one of South Africa’s richest men is up against one of her husband’s former companies in the Constitutional Court’.

The woman alleges that the company is bullying her in an effort to prevent certain information coming to light, although a 2015 court order means the media cannot name the couple:

Married in community of property, they have been embroiled in a bitter divorce marked by wrangling over their joint estate since 2012. In June 2012 the wife moved out of their luxury home in Johannesburg and into a luxury hotel in Sandton. Since their separation, she has moved six times and now lives in Cape Town.

They have agreed to the divorce but the division of their joint estates remains contentious.

Sounds like no one is short of cash, although the woman’s R140 000 per month maintenance claim was recently dismissed in the Johannesburg High Court.

How does one get to that amount? Some of those ‘necessary’ monthly expenditures:

Her lawyer at the time said she needed every month:

• R22,000 for groceries;
• R9,700 for clothing;
• R3,000 for fresh flowers;
• R11,533 for medical aid contributions; and
• R4,000 for entertainment.

The current drama centres around the company taking the woman to ConCourt, all to prevent her from accessing confidential company documents:

The woman subpoenaed the company’s chartered accountant to get the records. She believes they will expose a money trail from the company to two trusts.

She claimed the trusts, which have a 25% stake in the company, are part of her husband’s “alter ego”…

This is the company’s last hope of barring her from gaining access to its documents. The Johannesburg High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal have dismissed the company’s application for leave to appeal.

Here’s hoping all the beans spill out and we can watch on with popcorn at the ready.

[source:timeslive]

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