Port Elizabeth businessman Philip Georgiou, his wife, Yvette, and 31 cars belonging to a bank were nowhere to be seen when a sheriff-of-the-court arrived at the couple’s empty mansion in Kragga Kamma Road, Port Elizabeth, on Tuesday..

With a court order in hand, the sheriff intended to confiscate a total of 33 vehicles — most of them luxury cars and all belonging to Grobank Ltd (formerly the South African Bank of Athens) — but it soon became apparent that little had been left behind, barring a dog, a parrot, some geese and just two of the vehicles he was after...