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One of the biggest questions following the brutal murder of Cloete and Thomas Murray, on 18 March, was the contents of the discarded file that was found in the footwell behind the front passenger seat of the car that the Murray’s were gunned down in.
Cloete Murray had a reputation for handling massive liquidation cases that exposed significant fraud and corruption. He was the liquidator in the Bosasa case and crossed paths with the infamous Gupta brothers during his career.
A recent article by News24 details the final case that the Murray’s were working on days before their death.
The News24 article points out that before 14:00 on 18 March, an unknown number of gunmen would open fire on their Toyota Prado in broad daylight as they drove along the N1 North on the way back to Pretoria.
Thomas (28) was declared dead at the scene, while Cloete (57) was struck at least once in the head and died on Sunday morning at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital. Their car came to a stop just after the New Road bridge.
News24 has pieced together the movements they made on the day of the shooting, and has discovered the pair were working on a major liquidation case involving R26 million in properties, linked to a bigger matter in which at least R176 million was at stake.
Valuable assets
The article points out that Cloete had already caused a R6-million McLaren 600LT to be auctioned together with at least R8 million in other cars, including two Mercedes-Benz G-63s, worth roughly R3 million each, and had started an investigation that could have led to criminal activity coming to light.
On the morning of Saturday 18 March, the Murrays set off from the office of their company, Sechaba Trust in Menlo Park, Pretoria, at just after 11:00 and travelled to Melrose Arch, a 40-minute drive. Cloete had gone cycling earlier that morning.
The article adds that they were intent on gaining access to and securing a R4.9-million property inside the upmarket apartment building, One on Whiteley. The property was part of a liquidation the younger Murray had been appointed to just two days prior.
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They drove in Cloete’s Toyota Prado and reached the upmarket development at approximately 11:40, where they were met by siblings Rushil and Nishani Singh, the directors of the company, I2 Infinite Innovations, which owned the luxury apartment.
The McLaren auctioned belonged to Rushil Singh and featured in at least one Instagram post he shared in 2021, along with other high-end McLaren sports cars, apparently owned by Singh.
The article points out that weekend work was not uncommon for the Murrays, particularly in the first days after a new appointment. Moving with speed to secure assets is a key tenet of insolvency practice as it limits opportunities for evidence of possible wrongdoing to be destroyed, or for assets to be sold and the money squirreled away.
The apartment at Melrose Arch was one of three properties worth R13 million owned by I2, purchased with bonds secured from Investec Bank, according to court documents. A provisional liquidation order was granted by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on 3 February. Thomas Murray was appointed joint provisional liquidator on 15 March by the Master of the High Court in Pretoria.
The last ride
The News24 article points out that the father and son spent a little more than an hour and a half at the property, changing locks, securing any documents and by 13:45, departed on the highway back to Pretoria. News24 understands that the Singhs remained behind. They were both approached for comment on Sunday and again on Tuesday but, at the time of writing, had not responded.
Roughly 20 minutes later, just after 14:00, the Murrays’ vehicle was attacked by an unknown number of gunmen who fired at least nine shots into the Prado, first from just behind, the shots shattering the right rear window.
The article adds that at least one bullet tore through the driver’s head rest, striking Cloete Murray in the head. Further shots were fired directly through the driver’s window, and at least one stray shot entered high on the roof of the Prado, from the front.
The article adds that the vehicle sustained damage to the front right bumper, suggestive of an impact possibly with the vehicle driven by their assailants. The left front tyre was destroyed, the rim damaged from an apparent low-speed impact with a cement culvert on the shoulder of the road, the car coming to a stop just after the New Road bridge.
Emer-G-Med paramedics were dispatched at 14:20, News24 understands. The travel time from the M1 on-ramp at Athol Oaklands Drive, near Melrose Arch, to the scene of the shooting is approximately 20 minutes, a clear indication that the Murrays did not make any stops.
The R176-million case
The article points out that securing the Melrose Arch property was just another step the Murrays had taken in connection with a massive, R176-million case involving another company part owned by the Singh siblings. In December last year, Cloete was appointed as the joint liquidator of BIG Business Innovations Group.
BIG did extensive business with government entities but was put under provisional liquidation in November 2022, following an urgent court bid by Investec Bank that had lent the massive sum to BIG as part of several loan agreements.
The article adds that Investec has alleged in court papers that BIG and its directors perpetrated an “elaborate fraud” against the bank by providing possibly forged guarantees from Stanbic Bank’s Ghana offices.
The bank does state in court papers that it believes the original guarantees provided were genuine, but were replaced with fraudulent ones at a later date when further agreements were concluded.
The News24 article points out that BIG defaulted on the loans, and when Investec failed to elicit payment through several letters of demand sent to the Singhs, who had personally guaranteed some of the loans to I2, they contacted Stanbic which later informed them they had no record of the guarantees – and wouldn’t be paying.
As a result of clauses in the loan agreements, the default in late 2022 meant that loans granted to I2 were also subject to recall, and this led to Investec filing a liquidation application for I2 in January 2023, seeking R13 million to settle the debt. This means that some of the bonds provided to I2 had seen significant payments over the four to five years since they had been granted.
News24 was alerted to the possibility that the Murrays were hunting down assets linked to I2 because a file for the company, a blue paper folder emblazoned with the Sechaba Trust logo, was left behind in the car by police.
The article adds that, between Murray being appointed joint provisional liquidator in December and the day of his death, he had acted swiftly to secure BIG’s assets, with at least R13 million in cars and motorcycles being auctioned off in late February.
This included the McLaren 600LT coupe with special factory options, which is currently for sale for R6 million at a Johannesburg dealer after being sold at auction. Also sold were two Mercedes-Benz G-63s, worth roughly R3 million each, and a BMW M2 CS coupe worth R1 million. A Hilux and two motorcycles were also auctioned to recover some of BIG’s debt – but the overall value fetched at auction is unclear. The auction house involved did not immediately respond to a request for information.
The article points out that Rushil Singh is well known for his McLarens and other high-end cars, and owns a McLaren P1, one of 375 ever made, and a McLaren Senna, one of only 500 ever made. Another used Senna was advertised on AutoTrader for R29 million, News24 reported.
Smoking guns
The News24 article points out that, according to court papers, Murray had also seen to it that all BIG’s computers, documents and emails were secured, with Rushil Singh bemoaning a lack of access to documentation as hampering his ability to respond to the I2 urgent application brought by Investec.
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Documents on Sechaba Trust’s website also show that on Thursday and Friday, 16 and 17 March, a confidential Section 417 inquiry into BIG’s affairs had sat to hear evidence, having started apparently in early March.
“The 417 effectively opens the door to the cupboard with all the smoking guns,” Murray told Carte Blanche in an interview last year.
The Through the inquiry, the Murrays would have been able to quickly home in on the location of assets, and the liability of the directors, and would have been required by law to report any criminal activity they uncovered.
News24 understands that the Bosasa 417 inquiry would have continued this year with the calling of politically connected witnesses with links to the highest ranks of the ANC leadership.
Additionally, he was winding up Trillian, the Gupta-linked company that was paid R595 million by Eskom irregularly. SARS is also seeking more than R380 million from Trillian.
There is growing concern in the office of the master, which appoints liquidators, over what will now happen with the Murrays’ work that was still ongoing. He had dozens of active matters.
News24 reported on Monday that a team of senior police investigators were investigating a double murder, led by a senior prosecutor. It was also reported that the Murrays were potentially visiting high-end car dealership Daytona, possibly in search of Singh’s other vehicles, but News24 has now established that while Daytona occupies the ground floor of the One on Whiteley building, the Murrays were there to secure the property and were not looking for vehicles.
It will be interesting to see how this unfolds over the coming weeks.
