JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Friday 5.30PM.
THREE promissory notes worth US$50-million which were issued by Mpumalanga’s Parks Board are legally binding and could potentially be used to take ownership of the province’s core game parks, Judge Willem Heath said on Friday.
The notes, which are still in America but will be returned to South Africa next week, were illegally issued by MPB’s chief executive Alan Gray on July 31.
Speaking at his first press conference since the Heath special investigative unit began probing the deal last week, Heath said the notes were specifically drafted to be easily negotiable.
“This means that even if the parks board didn’t authorise them, they could still be cashed as long as the person doing so was under the impression they were valid,” said Heath.
He added that the promissory notes were worded “strangely” but explicitly used the parks board’s assets as security and were legally binding at face value.
“If the parks board couldn’t pay the bearer out the face value of the notes when they reached maturity, people would be able to attach the parastatal’s assets and sell them,” he said.
“That’s a very high risk factor — and if any losses are ever suffered, the government would have a claim against the people who signed the notes.”
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel branded the deal illegal earlier this week after pointing out that it failed to meet the conditions set out in the Borrowing Powers of Provinces Act and also did not have the necessary Reserve Bank, state treasury and ministerial approval.
Heath said on Friday he had personally taken over the investigation because of the high financial risks involved and had brought in three highly skilled forensic auditors from the Auditor General’s officer as ad-hoc members of the unit.
Heath also confirmed that a second raid on safes at the MPB’s head office in Nelspruit on Wednesday afternoon netted important documentation which finally enabled his investigators to America. — African Eye News Service