Mungo Soggot
OLIVER HILL, the South African fugitive fighting extradition from his south London jail cell, has caught the attention of Minister of Justice Dullah Omar who has dispatched his special adviser Enver Daniels to personally oversee attempts to bring him back to South Africa.
Omar has also sent a representative from the Transvaal Attorney General’s office to monitor Hill’s case, saying he is determined to do everything possible to ensure South African fugitives are brought home to justice.
In Hill’s case, he said, “We cannot afford for anything to go wrong. We must ensure that if the application for Hill’s extradition fails it is not because of us.”
The Justice Department wants to extradite at least two other South Africans living in Britain – Peter John Le Foucher, who is wanted for fraud and Tyrone Chatwick, who is wanted on two counts of murder.
Extradition only became possible after South Africa’s return to the international fold and, in Britain’s case, the Commonwealth.
Hill is wanted in South Africa for fraudulently manipulating R100-million out of South Africa’s dual currency system with forged Eskom bonds.
He left South Africa for London in 1987, and it was several years before the Reserve Bank realised it might want to question him. He was arrested by British authorities last June, and imprisoned in the Brixton jail.
Hill claims he is wanted for breach of exchange control regulations, which is not an extraditable offence, and that the South African Reserve Bank dressed up the charges as fraud to secure the extradition.
He lost his extradition hearing in London in October and appeared in court on this week for his habeas corpus proceedings – an application to be released from the prison.
Reserve Bank officials say Hill’s next step will be to appeal against his extradition in the British High Court. If he loses, he could delay his return to South Africa even further by appealing to the European Court.
Hill also lost an English district court bail application last year in which he claimed his continued incarceration was giving his wife Lynne at least two panic attacks a day.
He also claimed South Africa’s “oppressive regime” would not give him a fair trial. The court rejected his application, saying Hill faced serious charges and had made clear his unwillingness to return home to face trial.
Hill has spent fortunes on litigation; at his extradition hearing he was represented by Alun Jones, QC, who successfully defended the sons of Robert Maxwell against huge fraud charges. According to Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, Hill’s British legal bill so far is about R3-million.