Murder-accused Peter Beale denies trying to get former colleague to join Ponzi scheme
Beale is accused of reckless conduct which the state says resulted in the deaths of three children he operated on. According to the indictment, the surgeries weren’t necessary and Beale carried them out to try and recoup money he lost.
Murder-accused paediatric surgeon Peter Beale appeared in the Johannesburg High Court on 29 January 2024. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Murder-accused paediatric surgeon, Peter Beale, denied having tried to rope in a former colleague into the Tannenbaum Ponzi scheme which he lost R1.5 million in.
Beale is accused of reckless conduct, which the State said resulted in the deaths of three children he operated on.
According to the indictment, the surgeries weren’t necessary and Beale carried them out to try and recoup money he lost.
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The State’s first witness, another paediatric surgeon whose identity the court ordered be withheld, testified that Beale approached him once and asked him if he’d be interested in investing in what’s now known as the Tannenbaum Ponzi scheme.
The witness told the court that he "saw the way it was going", though, and declined.
But asked about this under cross-examination on Monday, Beale said it never happened.
The same witness also testified that at an international conference in 2009, Beale made comments around the money he lost in the scheme and how he needed to recover it, and so was offering to assist other doctors with surgeries, which the witness said was "unusual".
Asked about this on Monday, Beale wrote off any comments he might have made to this effect as "banter".