Cape Town - The multimillion-rand extortion of a luxury car dealership in Paarden Eiland took centre stage in the Western Cape High Court this week as police fingered the associates of alleged underworld kingpin Nafiz Modack as receiving the funds.
Bank records revealed by investigators have shown that the owners of The Toy Shop had paid a staggering sum of more than R6 million to Empire Car Investments over a two-year period, an entity formerly owned by Modack’s younger brother, Yaseen.
The Toy Shop was thrust into the spotlight in February 2021 when CCTV footage shared on social media showed a group of men trashing luxury cars, including Aston Martins.
About 40 men are seen arriving in two Toyota Quantum taxis and a bakkie and entering the dealership and smashing car windows and windscreens with wrenches and mops.
Hawks detectives investigating money-laundering charges against Modack and his co-accused have revealed that later in the trial, the manager of The Toy Shop will be brought to court to testify about the extortion.
The details of the funds were uncovered when assessing the bank accounts of Empire and it was ascertained that R4.2m was paid into Empire’s account by The Toy Shop.
Further investigations found that the owner also paid two sums of money from both his personal bank accounts of R485 000 and R1.8m as they were being extorted.
Further assessing the bank statements of Empire, the State revealed that Modack’s co-accused, Ricardo Morgan, had paid R2.8m into the account.
Captain Edward du Plessis told the court that when police questioned Modack’s best friend, Anwar Gallie, about why he paid a staggering R3.5m into the same account, Gallie allegedly told police that Modack told him money would be sent to his personal bank account and he should transfer it to Empire using false references such as “Golf”, “Merc” and “oil”.