Pretoria - Fraud unravels everything – that is the law.
These were the words of Judge Adams when a widow was caught out after she claimed she was the only surviving spouse of her deceased husband, although they had been divorced for decades.
The executor of the estate of the late Jeremiah Radebe, who died almost two decades ago in April 2004, turned to the South Gauteng High Court in Joburg to have the transfer of a property into the name of his former wife overturned.
Radebe was married to her until their divorce in 1997, and five years later he acquired a property.
The wife, through what the court said were fraudulent means by misrepresenting to the Master of the High Court she was the only surviving spouse of the deceased, obtained letters of authority and had the property transferred into her name.
Judge Leicester Adams said the fraud by the former wife did not end there.
During 2006, she obtained a loan from Absa and, as security for the loan, had a mortgage bond registered over the property in their favour.
The executor of Radebe’s estate asked the court that the endorsement of the title deed relating to the property and in terms of which it was effectively transferred to the former wife, be cancelled and ownership revert to the estate of the deceased.
The “fraud” came to light in 2015.
“The transfer of the property from the deceased estate to the first respondent (former wife) was tainted by fraud and the resulting registration of ownership in the name of first respondent falls to be set aside.”
The judge said the same applied to the mortgage bond.
“The point is simply that the so-called ‘fraud unravels all’ principle finds application... The transfer of the property into the name of the first respondent, as well as the registration of the bond over the property, stand to be set aside on the grounds that they were underpinned by acts of fraud,” Judge Adams said.
He referred to an unrelated but similar case presided over by the Supreme Court of Appeal in which a judge said: “No court in this land will allow a person to keep an advantage which he has obtained by fraud.
“No judgment of a court; no order of a minister, can be allowed to stand if it has been obtained by fraud.
“Fraud unravels everything. The court is careful not to find fraud unless it is distinctly pleaded and proved; but once it is proved it vitiates judgments, contracts and all transactions whatsoever.”
Pretoria News