Jew must be kidding!

Best friends: Dr Bill Venter

Did Bill Venter make anti-Semitic remarks about Greg Blank? Or is Blank spreading a false, slanderous and spiteful tale about the electronics billionaire – because his fiancée’s parents left their jobs at Venter’s country hideaway under a cloud?

As we speak, the case is up for judgment at any number of dinner tables in Joburg’s northern suburbs.

Venter, founder, and at 73 still executive chairman of the Altron group (operating profit in 2007 up 47% to R1,5bn), has parted ways with the manager of his 20 000 hectare game farm, who, so the story goes, is unhappy because Dr Bill made anti-Semitic remarks about the manager’s future son-in-law, the colourful former stockbroker and jailbird Greg Blank.

“Greg’s telling everyone he knows,” confirms a noseweek confidant. Indeed, in recent weeks Johannesburg’s northern suburbs dinner tables have been abuzz with the story, which attributes to Venter the statement: “Don’t bring Greg Blank here. He’s a crook, and he’s Jewish – and you know what Jews are like.”

Not so, declares Dr Bill, who has not been slow to marshal support for his denial (see box). “Dr Venter did not utter any anti-Semitic remarks and totally disassociates himself from any such remarks or conduct,” reads a statement issued by his PA, Jenny Morris.

“This allegation is absurd and is dismissed with the contempt it deserves.”

The statement says that Venter’s wealth and controlling interest in Altron is held in family trusts, controlled by independent trustees, the majority of whom are Jewish. “Therefore Dr Venter has entrusted his entire wealth and interest in Altron to Jews, for the benefit of his family and future heirs.”

The alleged anti-Semitic comments were supposed to have been made at the tycoon’s sprawling Elandsdrift game farm (near Warmbaths), where Dr Bill jealously guards his weekend privacy. Anyone wanting to set foot on the place must get his permission; this rule applies to everyone, even, it seems, to his own sons, 47-year-old Robbie (Altron group CEO) and Craig, 46 (CEO of subsidiary Altech).

Last July Eldred Krebser had been working as Dr Bill’s game farm manager for 14 months: his partner Linda worked in the farm office, did the catering, and looked after the gardens. Linda’s daughter is the Johannesburg marketing consultant and socialite Dawn Laws, who is in a relationship with fallen-from-grace stockbroker Greg Blank (convicted in 1992 on 48 counts of defrauding Old Mutual of R10m; sentenced to eight years; paroled after serving 21 months).

Eldred Krebser duly put in a request for permission for Dawn to visit them for the weekend. Who’s she bringing with her? demanded Dr Bill. The story has Krebser replying: “Her granny.” Venter, who knew about Dawn’s involvement with Greg Blank, then came out with his alleged “Don’t bring that guy here,” and those anti-Semitic remarks.

“Linda was furious,” says our source. “After all, Dawn Laws converted to Judaism and is as good as Jewish herself.” Eldred and Linda resigned shortly afterwards.

Before Eldred and Linda began work at Elandsdrift, Venter insisted that they sign a voluminous confidentiality agreement, that, Linda told friends, ran to more than 25 pages – which probably explains why the couple refused to discuss the issue with noseweek.

“We are not interested in getting into any form of debate, whether by email or telephonically, regarding any issues you may have picked up,” reads their terse statement, signed “Eldred and Linda”.

“We have always complied with our terms of employment and will continue to do so. We therefore consider this matter closed.”

Dawn Laws, who raises funds for wheelchairs and various devices for the disabled (“She does this out of the goodness of her heart,” says Dave Fox, director of the Association for the Physically Disabled) states: “My parents are good, honest people who left Elandsdrift behind them some 10 months ago now. I’m sure you can appreciate that nothing good can come from their revisiting their experiences in this regard.

“I too have made the decision that to recount events pertaining to Bill Venter offers no value to me. Gregory and I are about to have our first child and are focussing on all the goodness that this experience has to offer.”

52-year-old Blank’s marriage to the former Leah Koberman foundered in 2002 before ending in an “amicable” divorce. These days the “loveable rogue” – as he is generally regarded – is a low profile business consultant and part owner of a string of race horses. (In April he chalked up an amazing eight winners over three days.)

Asked to comment on the Dr Bill incident, a by now familiar silence reigns. The belligerent Blank threatens noseweek: “If I see my name, you’ve got trouble with me.”

This public attitude by Blank is odd, considering that it is he who has so assiduously spread the sorry tale around the dinner table circuit. He told friends he did so after Venter threatened Eldred and Linda with lawsuits. “I wasn’t going to let this fucker slide out of it,” he confided. “I told some very influential people and I’ve had a lot of calls about it. It got back to the Chief Rabbi.”

Among these “influential people”, Blank told friends and acquaintances, was prominent Jew Marcus Jooste, CEO of global furniture manufacturer Steinhoff International, who had heard about it at a dinner party. Jooste phoned him for “the whole story” and, according to Blank, was “appalled”.

Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein says this is all news to him. Marcus Jooste’s PA Joanne Cordeiro told us Jooste was “currently in Israel” for the 60th anniversary of Israel’s existence, and was not contactable. But it seems Jooste simply didn’t want to get involved – he was at that point still in Johannesburg.

The social circle in which Greg Blank moves has no shortage of colourful detail about goings-on at Dr Bill’s game farm. Leftover food at the end of the weekend is not bequeathed to the long-suffering staff – Dr Bill and his partner number five, Penny Girard, pack every scrap into plastic bags to take home to the Westcliff mansion. There is much hilarity recalling the day when Dr Bill erupted into a childlike tantrum when he saw that Linda had spread his horses’ manure on her garden. “It’s my shit and I want it all back!” he supposedly screamed.

Explaining Eldred and Linda’s departure, so the gossip goes, Dr Bill would say with a sigh that he had to let them go; they had stolen from him – poaching and selling his game.

Although he maintains a stony silence with noseweek, Greg Blank has not been slow to recount his dealings with Bill Venter to an array of upmarket dinner tables. How he had known the tycoon since he was 14 (“To me the guy’s an absolute halfwit”); how he used to play tennis with Dr Bill’s sons Craig and Robbie; how just a couple of months before last year’s incident he met Dr Bill at the wedding of the son of Dr Harold Serebro, senior executive director at Altron. How Venter said: “You must come to the farm and ride horses”, to which Blank replied coldly: “I don’t ride horses, thanks very much.”

Ironically, 69-year-old Dr Serebro is a Jew who during 23-plus years with Altron has, according to Blank’s dinner table revelations, been no stranger to Dr Bill’s Jew-bashing jibes. “That excludes you!” Dr Bill is said always to add, hastily, when he lets rip in Serebro’s presence. “Harold doesn’t take it seriously; he says it’s done tongue-in-cheek,” says an insider.

Dr Bill’s new love, Penny Girard, cannot believe that her ageing Lothario would stoop to anti-Semitic utterances. “Bill would never say such a thing,” she told Blank when they bumped into each other at the hairdresser, Blank insisted: “I’ve known the guy for 30 years. He’s an anti-Semite; he hates Jews.”

The rumpus has caused some coolness between Dawn Laws and Penny Girard, who were formerly close friends. After Dr Bill’s accusations of stealing, Dawn told Penny that if they persisted with “malicious lies” there would be legal action.

Eldred Krebser and Dawn’s mother Linda, gagged by Dr Bill’s confidentiality agreement, cannot defend themselves on the theft/poaching charges. To friends, she has explained their departure from the game farm: “We were there for 14 months. We used to work 24/7 and we’d just had enough.”

The couple now work on a hunting farm near Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal.

Of Dr Bill, Linda has confided to a friend: “He’s a finicky, pernickety old man. There were always these snide remarks going on. We just felt that our quality of life had changed.

“After we left he told somebody in the Jewish community that he had to let us go because we were thieving, poaching and selling the game; all sorts of stuff.” She had a copy of the letter her daughter Dawn had written to Penny about it.

Again, not so, according to Dr Bill’s spokesperson. “Dr Venter denies that he dismissed Eldred because he was stealing, poaching and selling game,” reads his statement to noseweek. “Eldred Krebser and his partner Linda resigned of their own volition stating they needed more free time on weekends away from the farm. After receiving their resignation Dr Venter actually tried to persuade them to stay on.”

What are Greg Blank’s intentions with the lovely young Dawn Laws? Will they marry? Here, finally, no confidentiality agreement is invoked. “Of course!” Linda tells us. When? “Who knows. I’m her mother, I don’t ask questions. I just do as I’m told.”

This is not the first time controversy has surrounded Dr Bill and his hired help. Readers may recall (nose49) how Joan Bruins, housekeeper at Dr Bill’s luxury Clifton holiday home, quit her job in disgust over the affair of Happy the unhappy gardener. Happy was the victim of an armed robbery and arrived at work in deep shock. After Bruins instructed him to lie down and rest, a furious Venter arrived and ordered Happy to “stop lolling about”.

Bruins is now, as reported in nose82, Lady Joan Seligman, wife of wealthy Isle of Wight widower, 95-year-old Sir Peter Seligman. Latest news from the island: Joan’s on her way to lunch with the Queen!

A LAWYER WRITES…

Dr Venter has shown me the email you sent him, regarding the alleged statement he made vis-à-vis “Jews being crooks”. Dr Venter denies having made such a statement, and has addressed you in this regard.

In this correspondence I am not addressing you in my capacity as legal advisor to Dr Venter, but simply as a Jew.

I and three other Jews, namely Hymie Levin, Harold Serebro and David Rose, are the majority independent trustees on Dr Venter’s family trusts. As such, Dr Venter’s entire wealth and controlling interest in Altron has been entrusted to Jews. Therefore, Dr Venter is not, and cannot be labelled by any stretch of the imagination, anti-Semitic.

To defame a man who is clearly not anti-Semitic for the sake of sensationalism is not in the interest of the Jewish people.

I understand the genre of your magazine – that there are no “holy-cows” and any public figure or personality is fair game. I personally feel this is a good thing in an open and democratic society which cherishes freedom of speech. However, to “play the racial card”, where it is totally unwarranted, could do more harm than good. South Africa has had its fair share of racial tensions.

I therefore request that you act with great circumspection before proceeding with an article vis-à-vis anti-Jewish sentiment where none exists.

Justin Lapin