Woman accused of hiding jewellery worth R40 million

SundayTimes reports that a 22-year-old woman Ammaraah Ismail, who is reportedly dating an upmarket jeweller Hoosein Mohaned is accused of hiding jewellery worth about R40 million from liquidators for her boss.

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WOMAN ACCUSED OF HIDING JEWELLERY

The upmarket jeweller Hoosein Mohamed and his alleged girlfriend Ammaraah Ismail are embroiled in a daring “heist” scandal involving the disappearance of jewellery worth R40 million.

Employees at Arthur Kaplan Jewellers in Umhlanga told the Randburg magistrate’s court last Friday, 9 June that the woman Ammaarah Ismail, who was also an employee at the jewellery company allegedly “deceived” them into handing over stock at a BP service station in Verulam. She reportedly convinced the staff that a robbery was imminent.

According to court documents, Ismail reportedly also deceived an employee at Arthur Kaplan store in Eastgate store into believing she was authorised to remove high-valued jewellery and watches.

Stock was also taken in a similar way from the company’s World’s Finest Watches shop in Nelson Mandela Square and Sandton City Diamond Walk store.

The liquidator of Arthur Kaplan Jewellers, Laila Motala (daughter of controversial liquidator Enver Motala) revealed to the court this week that they found nothing but empty safes and boxes when they arrived to inspect the inventory.

“His girl­friend is in pos­ses­sion of tens of mil­lions of rands of jew­ellery and is on the run. One of the prop­er­ties searched was her fam­ily’s home. We were told she had gone to KZN. If he is released on bail, it can­not be respons­ibly dis­coun­ted that he will join her, flee­ing justice,” said Motala.

Arthur Kaplan director, Hoosein Mohamed, who was arrested on Thursday, 1 June after allegedly assaulting and pulling a gun on the liquidator Laila Motala denied all charges, as well as Motala’s allegations that he was involved in the theft of the jewellery.

Mohammed told the court: “I was shocked. I ran the company for six months and can tell you that the company doesn’t even own R20 million stock in total. Ammaarah was my PA, not my romantic partner, and I did not secure her services to remove jewellery.”

The 36-year-old Mohamed is reportedly in custody pending a ruling next week on his bail application after hearing in the Randburg magistrate’s court.

According to court documents, Motala opposed bail in an affidavit and said that Ismail is Mohamed’s “personal assistant and girlfriend” and was working with him to retrieve the jewellery before it could be sold to pay creditors.

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R40 MILLION WORTH OF JEWELLERY

Some of the missing jewellery supplied by liquidators include a Hublot watch valued at R408,000, a diamond ring worth R823,999, diamond tennis bracelets, rings, necklaces and luxury watches including Tissot, Longines, Tag Heuer and Seiko brands.

SOME OF THE MISSING STOCK FROM ARTHUR KAPLAN STORE INCLUDE:

• A 18ct white gold three-carat diamond tennis bracelet, valued at R101,999.
• An 18-carat white gold six-claw open leaf classic solitaire diamond ring, valued at R70,999.
• A Hublot Big Bang Unico Titanium, valued at R408,000.
• A Tag Heuer Monaco Auto Chronograph, valued at R120,000.

Investigating officer Det Sgt Aubrey Tshisane revealed to the court that there were no previous or pending cases against Mohamed and he was not a flight risk.

Tshisane added that Mohamed was the legal owner of nine firearms which had all been confiscated and he had no intention of opposing bail.

Police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed a case of fraud had been opened.

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