/ 3 August 2006

Billionaire Dave King spent R68-million on lawyers

Billionaire Dave King had already spent over R68,8-million on lawyers and there was more where that came from, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. King faces 322 charges of tax fraud, racketeering and foreign exchange contraventions laid out in an indictment of 200 000 pages.

Billionaire Dave King had already spent over R68,8-million on lawyers and there was more where that came from, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday.

Prosecutor John Myburgh described King’s allegations that the National Director of Public Prosecutions and Reserve Bank had deliberately left him without any funds after freezing all his local and overseas assets as ”outrageous”.

”It is outrageous to submit that we are infringing any of his rights. No facts were placed before the court to prove this,” he said.

King faces 322 charges of tax fraud, racketeering and foreign exchange contraventions laid out in an indictment of 200 000 pages.

King has said he would have to represent himself as he had no money to pay his defence.

”He is one of the wealthiest men not only in South Africa, but also in the United Kingdom, who spends between R1-million and R2,4-million per month and spends in excess of R300 000 on his credit card. He has spent over R65-million on lawyers,” said Myburgh.

”This man, who has not submitted a tax return in five years and practically paid no income tax for that period … would rather spend R65-million on lawyers to fight Sars (the South African Revenue Service), than to treat this country with the respect it deserves,” he said.

The state was ready to proceed with the trial, and subpoenas had already been served on 42 witnesses. The state would also hand in affidavits contained in 14 lever-arch files.

”He said he doesn’t think the case is going on. We’re telling him this is a serious matter. The state wants to go on,” Myburgh said.

He said the state would be prejudiced if King’s trial was postponed indefinitely, as he had suggested, as it would not only waste costs, but could lead to a weakening of the state’s case.

Five state witnesses were elderly and two of them suffered from serious ailments, with one of them receiving chemotherapy. There was a possibility that they could die before testifying.

Further delays could give the impression the state was unable to prosecute big and complex commercial matters. It should be shown that an accused, especially a wealthy one, would not be allowed to systematically delay a trial.

Myburgh said it appeared that King would rather face arrest than comply with a British court order that he disclose his assets. The state believed he did not make that disclosure because he had sources of income elsewhere in the world.

Investigations revealed that in 1998 and 1999, King had transferred R1-billion from the sale of shares from South Africa.

He has never denied that there was money in his bank account in London, enforcing the impression that he had funds available.

Myburgh said a second fraud investigation was under way against King, but if it led to further charges, these would be tried separately.

King earlier alleged Sars had stopped him from concluding a plea bargain with the prosecution, but Myburgh said the prosecuting authority had consulted with Sars and then decided not to accept the plea bargain.

He said plea bargains had been debated over the past four years, with the latest offer expiring on Sunday, without King accepting it. He and his legal team now had to accept that he was facing a criminal trial on the merits of the case.

Myburgh will continue legal argument on Thursday. – Sapa