OWN CORRRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 7.30pm.
CABINET on Wednesday approved amendments to the Prevention of Organised Crime Act which will enable the state to seize criminal assets even if the offence was committed before the Act came into operation.
Justice Minister Penuell Maduna said in Pretoria the Prevention of Organised Crime Second Amendment Bill will be introduced to Parliament when it reopens in two weeks.
The amendment will also enable the seizure of criminal proceeds which have changed ownership as a gift or by means of a fraudulent transaction.
Last week, the Durban High Court ordered the state to return the seized assets of suspended deputy head of the Durban organised crime unit, Piet Meyer, after ruling that the Act could not be applied retrospectively.
In a similar ruling in April, the Cape High Court ordered the return of his impounded assets to alleged drug dealer Gavin Carolus.
Maduna said many judges are worried about the two court rulings.
“They are saying the rulings are doing quite a lot of damage to whatever confidence people have in the criminal justice system, and they don’t want to exacerbate that.”
Regarding the attachment of assets worth R44 million from the apartheid government’s chemical and biological warfare expert Wouter Basson, Maduna said it is appropriate.
“There is ample evidence that there is not a single person in Wouter Basson’s position now and previously, who could have accumulated property in excess of R40- million.”