Pretoria – Authorities have secured a preservation order for a house worth R2.2 million belonging to Johannes Jakobus Badenhorst aka Hannes Badenhorst and his wife, Christelle Badenhorst on suspicion that is was bought with proceeds of crime.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana on Friday, (14 March 2025), said: “Pretoria’s Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) of the NPA obtained a preservation order in the Pretoria High Court, to preserve a house in Hartbeespoort, North West, worth R2.2 million belonging to Johannes Jakobus Badenhorst aka Hannes Badenhorst and his wife, Christelle Badenhorst”.
The house was purchased in May 2022 for R2.2 million and registered in the names of Johannes Jakobus Badenhorst and his wife, Christelle, who still residing in the house.
“Investigations by the AFU revealed that the funds used to purchase the property originated from Tarioco (Pty) Ltd, which is one of the companies founded by Louis Petrus Liebenberg as part of the Forever Diamonds and Gold group of companies (FDG group of companies),” explained Mahanjana.
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Hannes Badenhorst was one of the directors of Tarioco.
“They ran a syndicate where members of the public were enticed to partake in a Joint Venture agreement with the FDG group of companies by purchasing diamond parcels, which would supposedly be sold by the FDG group of companies and the profits shared,” Mahanjana said.
The joint venture partners were then promised high returns on their investments.
“However, evidence revealed that the scheme was fraud, the diamond parcels did not exist, and the investors’ funds were used to purchase a mine and properties for the directors,” said Mahanjana.
“Evidence further revealed that incoming investors were paid with the investments of existing investors which carries the hallmark of a classic Ponzi scheme.
However, the house that has been preserved does not form part of the assets seized by the liquidators of Tariomix.
“The next step is to apply for a final forfeiture order, when granted the house will be sold on public auction and the proceeds paid into the Criminal Assets Recovery Account,” explained Mahanjana.
The criminal case against the two and others implicated in the Liebenberg, and nine others’ cases will appear on 8 July 2025 at the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate’s Court.
“The Head of the Pretoria AFU advocate Martin Mafojane welcomes the preservation order and wants to assure the public that the AFU remains committed to confiscating proceeds of crime,” Mahanjana said.
