Advocate stuck off roll for fraud
Shanbaga Padayachee, who was convicted of fraud totalling about R600 000 in 2002, has been struck off the roll of advocates by the Pietermaritzburg High Court, according to a report in The Mercury.
It says Padayachee, who was admitted as an advocate in 1994, failed to appear before High Court judges Pete Combrinck and Vivienne Niles-Duner, or to file an affidavit defending herself against allegations that she was not a fit and proper person to practise as an advocate. Instead, says the report, a friend, Paul Alexander, filed an affidavit pleading with the court not to strike her off the roll, claiming that she was too ill to attend the hearing. Combrinck said she had not filed an affidavit or appointed a legal representative, and it was not the first time she had failed to appear in court to respond to the allegations. The Mercury notes that Padayachee was convicted in 2002 of defrauding the Professional Provident Fund of R53 172.89, Liberty Life of R450 000 and Commercial Union of R100 000. She had done so by submitting false medical documents to insurance companies in support of her claims for disability benefits.
The Mercury report not available online