Vape shop owner on the run as millions go missing abroad

Police are on the hunt for East Rand vape shop owner Muhammed Karolia, who disappeared after Moneyweb first reported on the case of the missing R44.7 million that was intended for padel court development east of Joburg.

Karolia’s former business partner, Mohammed Ebrahim, suspected something was amiss when eight months after paying the money over to Karolia, there were no signs of any padel courts.

Read: Reserve Bank ordered to freeze vape shop owner’s bank accounts over R40m claim [Oct 2025]

The Johannesburg High Court ordered the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) to put a freeze on all bank accounts controlled by Karolia.

FNB and Absa were likewise ordered to freeze his bank accounts and provide eight months of bank statements.

Those bank statements appear to confirm Ebrahim’s suspicions – millions of rands were flowing out of Karolia’s accounts to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, US, Thailand and Netherlands.

The number of transactions to accounts abroad has raised concerns that Karolia had no intentions of developing padel courts, as he had promised. Instead, he appears to have been living large on his former business partner’s dime.

After discussions with the Sarb, Ebrahim is now returning to court for an order to compel more than 60 licensed forex dealers and banks to freeze all Karolia’s accounts.

Ebrahim has cited numerous other respondents, including Karolia’s mother and close business associates who are believed to have been recipients of some of the funds.

Investigation

Colonel Naidoo of the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit confirmed to Moneyweb that the case is under investigation after a fraud complaint was filed against Karolia by his former business partner.

Police believe Karolia travelled to the UAE after the court order compelling the Sarb to freeze his accounts was granted on 30 October 2025.

It is thought he was able to circumvent the court order using cryptocurrency to ship money abroad, despite an order from Judge Don Mahon on 3 December 2025 prohibiting Karolia or his family from executing any cryptocurrency transactions.

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Moneyweb also understands the police have interviewed Karolia’s family and friends to ascertain his whereabouts, as he stopped answering calls and is believed to have travelled abroad. Moneyweb’s attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

In an affidavit before the court, Ebrahim says his legal team has been in touch with the police, and that Karolia’s mother is a suspect in the case.

An examination of eight months’ bank statements provided by the Sarb, and segments of the court papers emailed to authorised forex dealers in SA, shows thousands of forex transactions by Karolia.

This made it all the more urgent to seek an order from the court to prevent any further funds being spent before civil and criminal proceedings have taken their course, says Ebrahim in his court papers.

Listen/read: The rise of padel in SA: Will it expand from the leafy suburbs?

He adds that Karolia, rather than investing in padel courts, appears to have been using the money to fund his lavish lifestyle, which included numerous overseas trips.

Moneyweb previously spoke to Karolia, who disputed many of the facts raised by Ebrahim.

He told us that the amount of money involved was R26 million, not R44.7 million, of which R20.5 million was sitting in a 60-day Absa call account. Absa has placed a freeze on this account. He also claims to have paid back R5.5 million, though this is at variance with Ebrahim’s court papers, which show an amount of just R1 million had been repaid.

Ebrahim also argued that Karolia had a gambling problem.

Karolia told Moneyweb this used to be the case, but he had himself voluntarily banned from casinos in 2022.

There were various attempts to resolve the dispute, first within the Muslim community, and then apparently by mutual agreement which was to be made an order of court.

Karolia failed to arrive at court on the appointed day to sign the agreement, prompting Ebrahim to open a criminal case against his former business partner on 20 October 2025.

The case will be heard on Thursday morning (18 December).

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