Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa denied on Monday that the police had been reluctant to arrest Czech businessperson Radovan Krejcir.
"Some people have been saying that the police are reluctant to arrest him and such characters," he said at a breakfast briefing in Midrand hosted by the New Age.
He said the police had been working hard to secure his arrest.
"You cannot act reckless simply because you want to arrest somebody. I want to make a point that there is nobody who will be feared by police in this country if you have committed crime, no matter how big you are, we are going to get you."
Krejcir was arrested on Friday and is expected to appear in court on Monday on assault and kidnapping charges. The assault charge is expected to be changed to an attempted murder charge.
Meanwhile, Krejcir's lawyer Ulrich Roux told SAfm on Monday? that his client did not refuse to be examined by a state doctor but instead did not trust the doctor to draw blood.
'He did not feel safe'
"He did not feel safe. He was not convinced that the state doctor was in fact a medical practitioner and he did not want his blood to be drawn by that person. His blood had already been drawn by two independent doctors," said Roux.
He said Krejcir was examined by two doctors on Saturday.
"He has been examined by two independent doctors … on Saturday blood was also drawn and the blood results led to the doctors advising us that our client needs to be admitted immediately and be placed under hospital observation."
Roux said the state doctor's examination was "highly inadequate".
"He did not refuse to be examined. He was examined yesterday morning [Sunday] at 12 o'clock and after we launched the urgent application to have him placed in a medical facility, that same doctor attended to the holding cells where our client is being detained and then attempted to draw blood, which our client duly refused."
Later in the interview with SAfm, Roux said the state doctor did not attend to him in the holding cells.
"The doctor did not attend to the holding cells, a policeman came and said they want to draw blood, upon which our client refused because he was not convinced the person wanting to draw blood was in fact a medical practitioner."
Right to representation infringed
Roux was speaking ahead of Krejcir's appearance in the Palm Ridge (Alberton) Magistrate's Court, south of Johannesburg, on Monday morning, where he and another person were expected to face charges of attempted murder and kidnapping.
This related to an alleged incident in June.
Also, in the high court in Johannesburg, a ruling was expected on Monday morning on whether he should be moved from detention to hospital following an urgent application by his lawyers.
Roux told SAfm that his basic constitutional right to legal representation and medical care had been infringed. – Sapa