An American who sued Noseweek and the Cape Argus bit off more than he could chew, reports Rehana Rossouw
WEALTHY American dentist Robert Hall clearly didn’t know what he was getting into when he took on the formidable, and famously eccentric, investigative journalist Martin Welz.
Hall sued Welz for R550 000 and the Cape Argus for R1,05-million for “damaging his reputation”, but landed up looking more like a liar, a tax dodger.
By the time Welz, publisher of the cutting investigative journal Noseweek, and the Cape Argus had finished defending themselves in the Cape Supreme Court, they had uncovered a whole lot more about the dentist who had been a strong promoter of the old South Africa.
Judge JH Conradie, who reserved judgment last week, also raised the possibility of Hall finding himself in tricky legal waters — suggesting Hall’s affairs may be referred to the attorney general.
Judge Conradie said the Reserve Bank had been guilty of “bureacratic bungling” in not investigating Hall’s residence status in South Africa, allowing him to contravene exchange-control laws and irregularly profit from the financial rand.
He added that the issue of 1 240 Krugerrands, which the defence claimed Hall had allegedly irregularly purchased and taken out of the country, could be referred to the attorney general. This information had not been in the articles Noseweek and Cape Argus published in April 1994, but emerged during the trial.
It all began with a report in Noseweek, in which Hall was reported to have lied to the Reserve Bank, avoided income tax and transgressed exchange-control laws.
At the end of the trial, Hall’s advocate said his client did not dispute the truth of the offensive paragraphs. But he claimed when that was read together with the caption and headline of the later Cape Argus story, it created the impression of a man on the run.
Hall’s advocate, John van der Berg, said in argument Hall’s private affairs, specifically allegations that he had tried to disguise his income, that he had lied about accounts in Panama to the Receiver of Revenue, that he had lied about his reasons for leaving the United States allegedly because of tax judgments against him, were not of interest or benefit to the public.
In response, Cape Argus counsel Steve Kirk-Cohen said there could be no question that Hall had sought the limelight and had actively promoted himself as being a high-profile, famous, wealthy man with a social conscience.
“He has specifically occupied a quasi-political role, promoting himself as a personal friend of former US president Ronald Reagan, and calling himself an unofficial ambassador to South Africa and an adviser to the Reagan administration on South Africa.
“There can be no doubt that [Hall] has thrown away the shield of privacy to the same extent as a public figure or politician.”
Kirk-Cohen said the defence had proved Hall was a fugitive from South African justice in senses other than the literal one, and from US justice. Information obtained from Interpol handed to the court had indicated he had a R8,5-million tax liability, at present-day values, in the US.
Kirk-Cohen said by using Grada (a Panamanian-based corporation Hall established) as a front and declaring himself a non-resident, Hall was able to circumvent exchange-control regulations. He declared to the receiver that he was a farmer and had no income from a South African source while conducting an “enormous” share portfolio on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in the name of Grada.
Kirk-Cohen said the defence had also proved Hall had committed fraud by removing assets from the country. This allegedly involved buying Krugerrands and taking them out of the country.
Hall and his wife Else live at the historic Cape Dutch farmstead Stellenkloof, which was not bought in his name. Kirk-Cohen said the defence had proved that in February 1993, Hall appropriated R1 133 661 and on February 16 purchased 700 Krugerrands. On February 17 he bought another 400 Krugerrands for R428 000.
“The purchases were in his own name, and were inconsistent with the scenario that he was acting as Stellenkloof’s agent,” Kirk-Cohen said.
Hall left South Africa on February 27 for England and his passport indicated that he returned sometime in March. In April that year, he bought another 400 Krugerrands for R448 000.
“Everything indicates that Hall bought the Krugerrands for himself and took them overseas.”
When his auditor, “Bimbo” Krige, attempted to do an audit of the Krugerrands in January 1994, 1 240 coins could not be accounted for. The value of the coins was R1 318 000.
The Receiver of Revenue began investigating Hall’s affairs in September 1992 and laid a complaint with the police in early 1994.
Other information about Hall which emerged during the trial was that he allegedly had links with South African military intelligence (MI) and that his claim that he had invented a surgical drill was false.
Welz said in evidence during the trial that Hall was allegedly involved with an MI front company to produce an anti-communist propaganda film in 1988. Hall played a “significant role” in setting up companies to finance the film Red Scorpion in 1988.
And in a promotion video screened by the SABC in 1992, Hall claimed he was the inventor of a pneumatic drill used in surgical dental procedures. But in records of a US patent appeal court obtained by
Welz and handed in as evidence at the trial, Hall stated under oath that he was not the inventor.