Lolly 'killer' case postponed

Lolly 'killer' case postponed
2012-04-09 16:28


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Lolly Jackson murder accused due in court
Hawks want Lolly's alleged killer in SA
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Johannesburg - Strip club boss Lolly Jackson's alleged killer George Luca, who is in custody in Cyprus, appeared in court on Monday and the matter was postponed, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

Spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said the matter was postponed to April 23, as the extradition application had not yet reached Cyprus officials.

The NPA started extradition proceedings before Luca's arrest in March.

Last week Mhaga said the extradition application was submitted even before Luca's arrest.

He said the NPA had opted for the European submission route because South Africa does not have a bilateral extradition treaty with Cyprus.

In addition to the 2010 murder of Jackson, the owner of the Teazers strip club franchise, Luca was wanted for theft, possession of suspected stolen property and fraud.

Luca allegedly phoned Gauteng crime intelligence boss Joey Mabasa and confessed to killing Jackson shortly after the murder.

He told the Sunday Times in a recent interview that he wanted to talk to the SAPS, but doubted whether he would get a fair trial.


- SAPA

Read more on: george luca | lolly jackson | cyprus | johannesburg | crime

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Lolly ‘killer’ faces extradition
March 27 2012 at 09:53am


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INLSA

A hit: Lolly Jackson, owner of Teazers, is said to have been killed because he knew intimate details about who killed Uwe Gemballa.

SHAIN GERMANER, ANGELIQUE SERRAO, KEVIN RITCHIE and PETER FABRICIUS

Limassol, Cyprus

GEORGE Louca won’t get bail today in a Cypriot court because he is a flight risk and the authorities in Cyprus will fight to keep him behind bars.

Instead, he will be kept in custody and extradited to SA to stand trial for murdering strip club boss Lolly Jackson.

This is the view of forensic consultant and security specialist Paul O’Sullivan, who has been investigating Louca – who is also known as Smith – and his ties to Bedfordview millionaire Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir.

“He doesn’t have the money to fight the case, he’ll succumb to the process and be extradited, where he’ll face trial for killing Jackson, which he confessed to (Gauteng police intelligence chief) General Joey Mabaso – and that’s what the state’s case is based on,” O’Sullivan said.


TRIGGERMAN? Lolly Jackson murder suspect George Louca has been arrested in Cyprus and was due in court today.

INLSA
The key issue, though, is not Jackson’s murder, O’Sullivan said, but what Louca knows about SA’s underworld.

“Lolly Jackson was murdered for one reason and one reason only – he knew the intimate details of who ordered the murder of (German businessman) Uwe Gemballa.

“(Cape Town gangland boss) Cyril Beeka was murdered because he knew who ordered the murders of Gemballa and Jackson. George Louca knows what happened to all three.

“It will be interesting to have him on the stand, but my worry is his credibility as a witness. He’s a crack cocaine user, but that’s not insurmountable, I’ve got other witnesses – he’d just be the icing on the cake.

“He’ll come back to South Africa, he’ll name names and we’ll see the unravelling of the dirty underbelly of the crime underworld in this country and its links to dirty cops who have been corrupted as a result.”

Louca, who has been living in Limassol since Jackson was gunned down in May 2010, was arrested last Tuesday after an arrangement between the SAPS, Interpol and Cypriot police was apparently reached regarding his prosecution.

The arrest is the first step in numerous attempts by the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to extradite the Cypriot, who has spoken to the media openly about his escape from SA after the killing.

Jackson’s family have said they are thrilled with Louca’s arrest, but they have been advised not to say anything to the media.

Lolly’s widow Demi said police advised the family not to make any statements because Louca was “talking and we don’t want to put our lives in danger”.

There are rumours that Louca is trying to strike a deal with the police where he will give them information in order to be put in witness protection.

Louca, an ex-police informant, was said to have contacted crime intelligence head and ex-handler Mabasa on the night of Jackson’s murder to set up a meeting at the Harbour Restaurant in Bedfordview. In an interview shortly after the crime, Mabasa said Louca had not shown up at the restaurant for the meeting.

Later, Louca told the media he had fled the country by hiding at a house in Bedfordview, then used his Cypriot passport to leave SA.

The alleged hitman was arrested in Cyprus not only for Jackson’s murder but for fraud, theft and possession of stolen property in unrelated cases, according to NPA spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga.

He said local prosecutors had submitted an extradition application some time before Louca’s recent arrest, but as SA has no official extradition treaty with Cyprus, the NPA has approached the EU.

Yesterday, the Cyprus High Commission in Pretoria confirmed it had not been asked by the SA government to extradite Louca and said it knew nothing about his arrest, except what it had read in the papers.

Mhaga said the NPA would rely on the Cypriot prosecutor to argue for it against Louca being granted bail.


Shaun Smillie reports that Sean Newman, Jackson’s spokesman, said he was shocked and pleasantly surprised when he heard that Louca had been arrested. “It is nice to see the first big jump in 22 months,” he said.

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Hawks want Lolly's alleged killer in SA
2011-05-16 08:11




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Top NPA officials prepare for Louka extradition - 23 Mar
Lolly Jackson's 'killer' arrested in Cyprus - 23 Mar
Teazers fraud charges dropped - 14 Mar
Teazers ownership battle goes to court - 09 Feb


Johannesburg - There are efforts in place to get George Luca, the man accused of killing strip club owner, Lolly Jackson, back to South Africa, the Hawks said on Sunday.

Hawks spokesperson McIntosh Polela was responding to a Sunday Times article in which a reporter interviewed Luca in Cyprus.

"It's nothing new to us. It's one thing going to interview him in Cyprus, but our job is to get him back to SA."

Polela said the Hawks have to go through a formal process to get Luca, also known as George Smith, back in the country.

"It involves negotiating to get him to come back... We are in talks for him to return to SA."

Fair trial

Polela said he would rather not comment on whether the Hawks were negotiating with Luca or the Cyprian government.

The Sunday Times reported Luca as saying he was not hiding in Cyprus, and he was not afraid.

"I want to talk to the police in SA, but I don't think I will get a fair trial," Luca reportedly said.

Polela said he could not comment on the issue of a fair trial, as it would be conducted by the courts and was not part of his, or the Hawks jurisdiction to comment on.

When asked if the Hawks could give an estimated time frame in which Luca would return to SA, Polela said "these things take a long time".

"They are difficult and complex and it would be irresponsible to put a time frame on it."

Allegedly confessed

In the Sunday Times interview Luca was asked about the night Jackson was murdered, but he said not to ask him about it.

"I am alive because I am not a betrayer."

Jackson, the owner of the Teazers franchise of strip clubs, was found murdered at a house in Edleen near the OR Tambo International Airport on May 3, last year.

Luca allegedly phoned Gauteng crime intelligence boss Joey Mabasa and confessed to killing Jackson shortly after the murder.

He claims he was helped out of South Africa and flew out of the country at the OR Tambo International airport.



- SAPA

Read more on: hawks | teazers | lolly jackson | george luca | cyprus | crime
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Lolly lawyer's murder rattles Jo'burg underworld
SALLY EVANS - Sep 23 2011 00:00


Speculation has gone into overdrive over the murder of attorney Iaan Jordaan on Tuesday, after sources with links to the criminal underworld said they were convinced it was a hit connected to Jordaan's work for slain strip-king Lolly Jackson.

According to two sources with insight into this week's events, Jordaan was allegedly kidnapped and forced to transfer R1.8-million from his company's trust account into a Bidvest account.

Jordaan (55), the Jacksons' family lawyer, was killed and put into a car and the car was set alight.

The remains of his body were discovered in a burnt-out bakkie in Hekpoort, north-west of Johannesburg, early on Wednesday morning.

The two sources said Jordaan might have been targeted by people who were after Jackson's money, some of which was allegedly held in a trust account administered by Jordaan.

One source told the Mail & Guardian that Jackson owed money to a former business associate, who cannot be named, and the hit was a means of getting the "money from him [Jordaan] by force, then he [Jordaan] was got rid of, so he wouldn’t talk".

Teazers tiff
In 2009 a judge ordered Jackson to set aside about R2-million in an account to be handled by Jordaan, following a civil case between Jackson and a former employee, Mark Andrews, over the ownership of a Teazers club in Cresta.

Jackson had to set aside the money as a guarantee before the case could continue.

Andrews's cellphone was switched off on Thursday morning.


One of the two sources close to the investigation into Jordaan’s death told the M&G that on Tuesday Jordaan told colleagues at his Norwood offices that he "was off to meet a potential new client" at 2pm.

The potential new client may have been "one of Jackson's old poker friends", but this could not be independently confirmed.

At about 4pm Jordaan called his secretary to say that a man wearing a pink shirt would be coming to the offices to collect Jordaan's laptop and dongle, a USB device, which Jordaan used for internet banking.

According to the source, Jordaan told his secretary that this "was in order" because the man coming to collect the laptop was helping him with something.

At 4.30pm a man arrived and took the dongle and Jordaan's laptop.

A couple of hours later Jordaan's fiancée, Joanne Rizzotto (26), became concerned about his whereabouts, because his motorbike, which he had driven to work, was missing.

Missing person
She made out a missing-person report at the Norwood police station on Tuesday night and police later received a call about the burnt bakkie.

Gauteng provincial police spokesperson Captain Pinky Tsinyane said on Thursday that the investigating officer had not yet positively identified the body, but was trying to establish who owned the bakkie. Police do not know how the bakkie was set alight.

One source said Jordaan’s murder seemed more like "a Nigerian-type scam, where people are kidnapped and killed for money", rather than an organised hit.

When the M&G contacted Rizzotto a friend picked up the phone. She said only that Rizzotto was "still in shock".

Former Teazer' spokesperson, Sean Newman, described Jordaan as "a really good man".

Disgusting
"If it was a hit, then it was the most disgusting thing ever. He is just an innocent individual who was caught in the middle."

Jackson was shot and killed in May 2010, allegedly by George Louca, who is currently in Cyprus.

Louca has been described as a key cog in an alleged money-laundering operation between Jackson and Czech fugitive and fraud accused Radovan Krejcir. -- Additional reporting by Lionel Faull

* Got a tip-off for us about this story? Email amabhungane@mg.co.za
The M&G Centre for Investigative Journalism, a non-profit initiative to develop investigative journalism in the public interest, produced this story. All views are ours. See www.amabhungane.co.za for all our stories, activities and sources of funding.
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No leads in Mark Andrews murder case
Thursday 29 September 2011 11:21

SABC

Murdered strip club boss Lolly Jackson.(REUTERS)

Tags:
Lolly Jackson
Ian Jordaan
Mark Andrews
Murders
TeazersStrip club
Gauteng police are still looking for leads on who was responsible for the murder of Mark Andrews, a business partner of murdered strip club boss Lolly Jackson.


Police spokesperson Lungelo Dlamini has urged anyone with information relating to Andrews' murder to come forward.


Earlier reports said that Andrews was going to hand himself over to the police this week in connection with the disappearance and reported murder of Jackson's lawyer, Ian Jordaan.

Mark Andrews' body was found yesterday in the early hours next to the R59 road in Alberton.
A charred body believed to be that of Jordaan was found on top of his bakkie on the West Rand last week.



Police Spokesperson Colonel Lungelo Dlamini says they have no leads yet. "We have not identified the suspects at this stage and we are appealing to the members of the public to come forward with information, anyone with information may contact the crime stop or the crime line."


Mark Andrews' body was found yesterday in the early hours next to the R59 road in Alberton.


He was shot execution style with a bullet wound to his head and his hands were tied behind his back. This adds to a long list of murdered people linked to Lolly Jackson.