BRONWEN ROBERTS, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.45am
THE Pretoria High Court on Wednesday ordered the state to return assets seized from the mastermind of apartheid South Africa’s sinister bio-chemical warfare programme, Wouter Basson.
The assets — including a company in the United States, homes in the United Kingdom and Pretoria and money in foreign bank accounts — were seized earlier this month under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
This is the third setback for the act, which allows for the seizure of assets obtained with the proceeds of crime, since it became law in January.
Public Prosecutions Director Bulelani Ngcuka had issued an interim order for the seizure of the assets, worth about R44-million, on allegations they were obtained with funds defrauded from Basson’s apartheid masters.
Basson’s appeal against the order was provisionally upheld last week and finally granted on Wednesday after the court criticised the act as convoluted and badly written, SABC radio news reported.
The ambitious act has been thwarted twice this year when courts ordered the return of assets seized from an alleged gang lord and crooked policeman.
Ngcuka said he is “disappointed” with the court’s ruling and will appeal the decision.
“There is a feeling that the provisions of the act are too drastic and therefore there is reluctance to enforce its provisions,” he told SABC radio.
Amendments to close loopholes in the law, based on anti-mafia racketeering legislation in the US, are before parliament.
Basson (48) is due in court next month on 16 counts of murder, 13 of conspiracy to murder and two counts of attempted murder. — AFP