DINNER PARTY INTEL: A tottering pyramid of diamonds
If anyone still had any doubts, a retired judge has called Louis Liebenberg’s enterprise a Ponzi scheme
10 August 2023 - 04:00
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The Moskva, flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet before it was sunk. Picture: ALEXEY PAVLISHAK/REUTERS/FILE PHOTO
1. A tottering pyramid of gems
Louis Liebenberg’s diamond-peddling business has been described by retired judge Eberhard Bertelsmann as a Ponzi scheme. Liebenberg is a sugar daddy to, among others, Jacob Zuma, Carl Niehaus and former Springbok flyhalf Derick Hougaard. Bertelsmann’s comments appear in a report submitted as evidence in the provisional liquidation of Liebenberg’s company Tariomix.
2. The brass route to Russia
Less than three months after South Africa’s army chief, Lt-Gen Lawrence Mbatha, visited Russia, navy chief Vice-Admiral Monde Lobese has pitched up in St Petersburg. Lobese was photographed at celebrations marking Navy Day, an annual show of military strength that commemorates a Russian victory over the Swedish fleet in 1714.
3. Back to school — at 110
A Saudi woman has gone back to school at the age of 110 to learn to read and write, according to a report in Arab News. Nawda Al-Qahtani, from the Umwah region, says that when she was young it was common for girls to quit school because of the geographical isolation of their villages. The mother of four (her oldest child is 80 and youngest 50) says literacy education has transformed her life.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
DINNER PARTY INTEL: A tottering pyramid of diamonds
If anyone still had any doubts, a retired judge has called Louis Liebenberg’s enterprise a Ponzi scheme
1. A tottering pyramid of gems
Louis Liebenberg’s diamond-peddling business has been described by retired judge Eberhard Bertelsmann as a Ponzi scheme. Liebenberg is a sugar daddy to, among others, Jacob Zuma, Carl Niehaus and former Springbok flyhalf Derick Hougaard. Bertelsmann’s comments appear in a report submitted as evidence in the provisional liquidation of Liebenberg’s company Tariomix.
2. The brass route to Russia
Less than three months after South Africa’s army chief, Lt-Gen Lawrence Mbatha, visited Russia, navy chief Vice-Admiral Monde Lobese has pitched up in St Petersburg. Lobese was photographed at celebrations marking Navy Day, an annual show of military strength that commemorates a Russian victory over the Swedish fleet in 1714.
3. Back to school — at 110
A Saudi woman has gone back to school at the age of 110 to learn to read and write, according to a report in Arab News. Nawda Al-Qahtani, from the Umwah region, says that when she was young it was common for girls to quit school because of the geographical isolation of their villages. The mother of four (her oldest child is 80 and youngest 50) says literacy education has transformed her life.
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