COMMERCIAL criminals ”pardoned” by bodies like the Heath Commission’s special investigative unit could now face criminal charges, Justice Minister Penuell Maduna said on Friday.
”All these commissions that have made recommendations regarding what is to be done to people who broke the law, are having their reports studied with a view to taking appropriate action from a point of view of law enforcement,” he told the National Press Club in Pretoria.
Former judge Willem Heath, for example, told culprits: ”You bring back the money you stole from government and your sins are forgiven,” the minister said.
”He did not have any authority whatsoever to do that,” said Maduna.
Maduna said he had given instructions to reopen ”a whole lot” of cases investigated by the unit, which was tasked with probing the theft of state money.
”Whether or not you paid us back is neither here nor there for us. If you committed theft – you committed fraud, you surely must be punished under the law,” he said.
”We will have to arrest people. And I want to assure them, that wherever they are, the pardon from Heath is inadequate for purposes of criminal law.”
The department was also looking at some cases arising from the Jali commission of inquiry – set up to probe claims of corruption, violence and maladministration in the Department of Correctional Services, Maduna said. It wanted to expedite prosecution in these cases.
”Untouchables hidden even in the government system … we will be dealing with them,” he added.
The minister also revealed that investigations have been concluded into a number of tax evasion cases, saying several ”very interesting big names” had emerged.
”We will be able to pick up a few of them, and we want to make sure that the hearing of those cases are expedited,” he said.
Quite a number of cases involving major commercial scams would also go before court soon. These involved the collapse of some banks and companies, the minister said.
He stressed the importance of close co-operation between the police and prosecutors in these matters, so as to ensure that cases did not collapse in court.
Maduna told the gathering his department would shortly be releasing a draft Legal Practice Bill, which was aimed at improving access to the legal system by reducing costs, among other things.
The document would seek to make it easier for so-called paralegals to appear in court on behalf of clients. This would make it easier for people to afford legal representation.
It would also aim to remove the traditional distinction between advocates and attorneys. This would ensure that when advocates take money directly from the public, they had to comply with certain legal requirements.
The minister denied that the justice system was dysfunctional. If this was the case, courts would have had no work to do. Instead, they were ”overflowing”.
The conviction rate in district courts was over 85%, and that in high courts 65%.
”That is a very good average,” Maduna said. – Sapa