A wad of documents that appear to back at least some of Jurgen Harksen’s claims that he bankrolled the Democratic Alliance and its Western Cape leader Gerald Morkel were handed to the Desai Commission on Thursday.
The documents, seized by police from Harksen and his wife, include a print-out of Harksen’s cellphone bill, which shows that in January this year he was contacting Morkel up to five times a day.
The documents were handed to the commission by Captain Piet Viljoen, investigating officer in the multimillion South African fraud case against Harksen.
Among them is a copy of the full lawyers’ account for Morkel’s court case against the New National Party in November last year.
The commission’s leader of evidence, Craig Webster, told the commission that it was found in an envelope under the sink in Jeanette Harksens’s boutique in central Cape Town.
Harksen has told the Desai commission he paid almost half of the bill, which totalled over R229 000.
Morkel has consistently denied receiving any donations from Harksen.
The documents also include an invoice from Seef residential letting for the rent on the Higgovale home that Morkel lived in after he was ousted from the Western Cape premiership last year.
Again, Harksen has testified that he paid the bulk of the rent, and Morkel has denied this. – Sapa