Troubled financial adviser Hanjo Schlabitz has offered to sell his house and shares to repay investors who have lost N$250 million after his business collapsed.
These details come from a creditors’ meeting held by liquidator Wiam Schickerling at the Master of the High Court in Windhoek yesterday.
During the meeting, Schlabitz proposed a plan to repay some of the lost millions in a bid to stop creditors from dragging him to court.
His offer included selling his N$2.9-million Windhoek house and a N$3.1-million orphanage, of which he owns 50%, together with cattle and some shares in a meat company. It excluded a family farm worth millions.
Some of those who have lost their investments, however, say this offer is ‘peanuts’ compared to what Schlabitz owes.
The Namibian understands the offer is less than 5% of the amount that was lost through his investments.
Schlabitz’s Wealth Management Solutions (WMS) entered liquidation in April after a forex trading platform it was using collapsed.
After losing money overseas, Schlabitz allegedly paid out clients from others’ accounts to hide losses and keep his firm afloat.
Schlabitz yesterday offered some of his personal assets to pay back creditors who have lodged claims against him amounting to nearly N$250 million.
“As a goodwill gesture, I will put in assets that are not WMS assets [to pay back creditors],” he told creditors during a meeting in Windhoek.
The meeting was attended by lawyers and 20 individual creditors.
Current liquidation proceedings are limited to WMS.
The assets the company owns, when sold, will likely only amount to N$20 million, the liquidator in charge of the case told The Namibian last month.
This includes the value of his office, as well as N$18 million held in a local money market account.
Many of Schlabitz’s clients had invested in this low-risk account and were under the impression it held N$49 million. But Schlabitz used between N$37 million and N$39 million of their money to pay clients who lost money in international forex trading.
He is now offering some of his personal wealth to enlarge the pool the liquidator can pay back creditors from. In exchange, affected clients would not be allowed to approach the courts to sue him or seize his personal assets.
“All creditors would need to agree to the compromise and that there would be no further civil proceedings against me,” he said yesterday.
He said he is battling an ongoing health issue and requires surgery this week.
“I will not dawdle on this [offer]. This is in my best interest and I also want this out of my life,” he said.
But creditors say they are unlikely to accept the amount offered.
“The offer you’re giving us is peanuts. I won’t – for myself – accept that. Here are people who have lost everything, and you still [own] a farm. We’re not fools,” one of the creditors at the meeting said.
The proposed distribution would only take into account the capital they invested.
Liquidation proceedings showed Schlabitz had been losing money since 2023, and continued issuing statements to his clients as if their funds were safe. Creditors lodged their claims based on those statements.
“You have two options: Increase the offer or the courts will come into play,” another creditor said.
Lawyers representing the creditors yesterday said investors would still be allowed to lodge a claim in the High Court for damages against Schlabitz. This option is available to clients who invested internationally with Schlabitz, and claim they were misled into believing the high-risk forex trading was a low-risk investment.
Schlabitz and his lawyer said they would not fight that specific aspect of damages, and would request that each case be handled on merit. The next creditors’ meeting will take place next Tuesday.
The Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority last month confirmed it was investigating Schlabitz.
Apart from WMS, Schlabitz has several assets creditors and lawyers want him to give up. He is involved in three trusts. One is the Bitze family trust, which Schlabitz owns together with his two siblings.
The trust owns a 4 200ha farm near Seeis, which could be worth between N$10 million and N$40 million. Through a second business trust account, Schlabitz owns farm equipment, over 400 head of cattle, and shares in Savanna Beef.
“My siblings are vehemently against [selling the farm] and are unable to buy me out,” he said yesterday.
One of the lawyers said: “The bottom line is that you will need to increase the offer, perhaps including the farm.”
Schlabitz and his wife, Rosalind, were both board members of Hope for Life, a Christian foundation that runs an orphanage for babies.
The foundation also invested money with WMS.
According to a creditors’ meeting at the end of July, Schlabitz paid out N$800 000 of that investment to the foundation – days before his company entered liquidation.
“He decided Hope for Life is more important than pensioners,” one lawyer said yesterday.
Transferring any money just before a liquidation is considered ‘preferring’ some creditors above others, which is not allowed.
The Namibian was this week informed that Hope for Life paid back the investment on Tuesday.
Hope for Life this week declined to comment.
The Namibian was able to confirm that Schlabitz is no longer a board member.
