In a damning ruling, a court found that Advocate Luzelle Adams acted selfishly while overseeing Mosiuoa Lekota's finances, leading to more than R2m allegedly being misappropriated during his incapacity.

The Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria has delivered a scathing judgment against Advocate Luzelle Adams, accusing her of acting for "selfish reasons" while handling the affairs and finances of her late life partner, the Congress of the People (Cope) leader Mosiuoa Lekota.

Judge Anthony Millar dismissed Adams' application for leave to appeal an earlier ruling that declared Lekota had been mentally incapable of managing his affairs during the final months of his life.

Mosiuoa Lekota died in hospital in March at the age of 77 after his estranged wife, Ntombenhle Cynthia Lekota, approached the court over concerns that more than R2-million had been withdrawn from his accounts.

In court papers, Lekota said that when she visited her husband in January, he could no longer explain the state of their finances, medical aid or investments. She said he was unable to explain why monthly payments of R5,000 to her had stopped and could not remember details of his bank accounts, financial advisers, usernames or passwords.

Meanwhile, the court heard that Adams received payments of R1,084,725 and R600,000 at a time when Lekota was no longer fully capable of managing his affairs.

The court also found that...