ALLEGED dealer Gavin Carolus won his case against the state on Thursday when the Cape High Court set aside a court order authorising the seizure of his fixed and loose property. Judge AP Blignaut ruled that the Prevention of Organised Crime Act did not have retrospective effect and could therefore only be applied to crimes committed after its promulgation last year Carolus’s case is the first time the new law has been used to seize the assets of an alleged gangster. The state last month seized six cars, six homes, three business concerns and four bank accounts in terms of new anti-gangster legislation.
On Monday Carolus denied allegations that he is a drug dealer or that the seized property was acquired with the proceeds of drug trafficking or that the properties were used for drug dealing.
The state will have to bear the costs of the case – which the judge ruled were civil and not criminal, although he awarded the less expensive party-party costs rather than the more expensive attorney-client costs Carolus requested.