van Vuuren's

Latest from The Citizen newspaper:

The court granted an order freezing the bank accounts of Van Vuuren, his wife, Rika, various business entities and family trusts.


It surely must have crossed any number of minds why Adriaan van Vuuren, once hailed as one of the newest, large players in South African horse racing, would suddenly turn his back on the turf and summarily dispose of a string of high-priced horseflesh.

Especially as Van Vuuren was the owner of three year-old equine superstar Abashiri, the gelding that won the Triple Crown – the SA Derby, Gauteng Guineas and SA Classic – before quitting horse racing last year.

Only Horse Chestnut, in 1999, and Louis the King, in 2014, managed to secure the classic series as Abashiri, who had banked over R5 million in prize money, including a R2 million bonus for winning all three legs of the Triple Crown.

But all of that is racing history now as Telkom subsidiary Trudon this week obtained a court order freezing the bank accounts and assets of its former IT manager, who lived like a millionaire after allegedly defrauding the company of more than R500 million.

The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria granted an order freezing the bank accounts of Van Vuuren, his wife, Rika, various business entities and family trusts.

The thoughts that come immediately to mind are how Telkom allowed a haemorrhage of capital of this magnitude to occur in the first place.

The checks and balances must have been so loosely reined that it was almost as if the state-owned enterprise had applied to the racing authorities for corporate colours.

There are also some searching questions to be asked inside the racing community on how a relative unknown in the industry managed to pour the amount of cash it is alleged he did and embark on a ride which shot him straight into the headlines, without checking the weights in the saddle bags he brought with him.

The one thing that I am curious about this whole story and where journalism stands in horse racing.

This story has been out for a few days - Even today in the Citizen - But not a word from or in the Sporting Post - Why ? who then controls the sporting post. Surly this should be headline news or maybe not .

Not mentioned in Turf Talk not mentioned on RA website .

Very confusing

Warren L wrote: The one thing that I am curious about this whole story and where journalism stands in horse racing.

This story has been out for a few days - Even today in the Citizen - But not a word from or in the Sporting Post - Why ? who then controls the sporting post. Surly this should be headline news or maybe not .

Not mentioned in Turf Talk not mentioned on RA website .

Very confusing

.....Warren let's be frank.....no one wants to be seen with an omelette on the face.....the industry inadvertently shy's away from bad press.....for racing this is indeed a mess..... :ohmy:

Warren L wrote: The one thing that I am curious about this whole story and where journalism stands in horse racing.

This story has been out for a few days - Even today in the Citizen - But not a word from or in the Sporting Post - Why ? who then controls the sporting post. Surly this should be headline news or maybe not .

Not mentioned in Turf Talk not mentioned on RA website .

Very confusing

Not blaming anyone but when someone enters an Industry like a Hurricane surely ONE Journo asks him how he made his money or if the story of royalties from a bank program are true? I have always heard the royalties rumor but never has anybody given me proof(I tried searching years ago but all I found was his position at Trudon(Yello Pages)

Muhtiman wrote:

Warren L wrote: The one thing that I am curious about this whole story and where journalism stands in horse racing.

This story has been out for a few days - Even today in the Citizen - But not a word from or in the Sporting Post - Why ? who then controls the sporting post. Surly this should be headline news or maybe not .

Not mentioned in Turf Talk not mentioned on RA website .

Very confusing

.....Warren let's be frank.....no one wants to be seen with an omelette on the face.....the industry inadvertently shy's away from bad press.....for racing this is indeed a mess..... :ohmy:

Well that , and the fact that at present most of the story is "alleged" . Despite us "knowing " the outcome I still think publications need be conscious of "Alternative Facts"

AVV must be really thick. If I stole 500 bar + I would have spent all my efforts on hiding it and not throw it away like he did? Over paying at sales and buying any hoss that seemed remotely like it had ability(Amsterdam oomph querari viking etc) Doesn't make sense at all.

Muhtiman wrote:

Warren L wrote: The one thing that I am curious about this whole story and where journalism stands in horse racing.

This story has been out for a few days - Even today in the Citizen - But not a word from or in the Sporting Post - Why ? who then controls the sporting post. Surly this should be headline news or maybe not .

Not mentioned in Turf Talk not mentioned on RA website .

Very confusing

.....Warren let's be frank.....no one wants to be seen with an omelette on the face.....the industry inadvertently shy's away from bad press.....for racing this is indeed a mess..... :ohmy:

I was wondering why they never cover it as well. A couple years ago before I can collect a R60 000 payout from a leading Bookmaker, they did a Credit Check on me as I received a notification from one of the Credit Vetting Companies. Why was a Credit Check not done on him or they just kept silent....

How many times do the news24 and citizen have to remove articles ?

I had a request from a lawyer this year for an old article to be removed from abc as it was the only place it still remained on google

The Jock that committed murder a few months ago ( allegedly) has also not hit the racing websites

I was wondering why they never cover it as well. A couple years ago before I can collect a R60 000 payout from a leading Bookmaker, they did a Credit Check on me as I received a notification from one of the Credit Vetting Companies. Why was a Credit Check not done on him or they just kept silent....[/quote]

.....when the J Arthur Brown/ Fidentia saga broke..... I was in Cape Town staying right next to the gym/spa his wife owned.....when I returned to my office a week later....I had Credit Info checking software that the company I worked at..... paid plenty yen for....When I checked Fidentia it said...... see Brown Brothers....when I checked Brown Brothers....it said see Fidentia......and that oke got into billions....who did the checking found nothing on the creditinform systems and still allowed him to plunder.... :oops:

Gazza wrote: AVV must be really thick. If I stole 500 bar + I would have spent all my efforts on hiding it and not throw it away like he did? Over paying at sales and buying any hoss that seemed remotely like it had ability(Amsterdam oomph querari viking etc) Doesn't make sense at all.

Greed and stupidity - a lethal mix

Muhtiman wrote:

Warren L wrote: The one thing that I am curious about this whole story and where journalism stands in horse racing.

This story has been out for a few days - Even today in the Citizen - But not a word from or in the Sporting Post - Why ? who then controls the sporting post. Surly this should be headline news or maybe not .

Not mentioned in Turf Talk not mentioned on RA website .

Very confusing

.....Warren let's be frank.....no one wants to be seen with an omelette on the face.....the industry inadvertently shy's away from bad press.....for racing this is indeed a mess..... :ohmy:

Sad very Sad - Like a swan swimming in a lake while its feet are paddling a million miles an hour

Surely something like this they will dig deap into everything that he was involved in,but when it comes to horse racing there must be quite a few nervous people. If one wanted to get money into another account its easy to make a arrangement with a breader lets say to pay 2 million for a horse thats worth less then a million,but on the auction you bid to 3 million ,pay the money and recieve one million back to a account that nobody is aware of. Change stolen money for clean money, not saying this is what he did but that would be a good way to do it.Except if they did forensic audits on every horse bought or sold,every breaders books and accounts aswell as trainers etc.