The Desai Commission of Inquiry into former Western Cape premier Gerald Morkel’s links to German fraud suspect Jurgen Harksen has found that Harksen ”or one of his associates” provided money to the Democratic Alliance.
However, it found that there was no acceptable evidence to suggest that Morkel, at that time the New National Party/DA premier, and former Western Cape Finance MEC Leon Markowitz, an NNP/DA fundraiser, received any other monies from Harksen.
But in a report handed today by Judge Desai to Western Cape Premier Marthinus van Schalkwyk, it finds that there was no mystery ”Hans” — as claimed by Markowitz — involved in providing 99 000 Deutsch Mark to the DA.
Harksen, who has been extradited to Germany since giving evidence to the commission, was found to be an unsatisfactory witness by the commission and in particular it could not accept ”his unsupported and uncorroborated evidence that Markowitz did not pay rental on a Clifton bungalow” home rented by him from Harksen.
It did note, however, that it was unusual that Markowitz, an experienced businessman, did not ensure that he received a receipt for cash payments of R60 000.
The commission noted that both Markowitz and Morkel, now a member of the Cape Town executive committee, were the beneficiaries of generous hospitality at Harksen’s expense and ”they do not appear to have had any compunction in enjoying such benefits” even though they knew he was an unrehabilitated insolvent.
Desai and his fellow commissioner John Ernstzen noted that the Harksen allegation that he had given money to Morkel and Markowitz either to be used by them personally or earmarked for their political party ”cannot be accorded any weight whatsoever unless supported by other acceptable evidence”.
They noted again that he was an unreliable witness.
But the commission found that the evidence of Markowitz ”was like that of Morkel,” unsatisfactory in a number of respects.
The explanation offered by Morkel and Markowitz was that the DM99 000 was delivered to the offices of Markowitz in July or August last year by a German who identified himself only as Hans. Markowitz himself was ”under the impression” he had met Hans at a function held by Harksen at his Clifton bungalow.
The commission found that had the monies been paid in a normal fashion to a banking account, this would have been indicative of the fact that Markowitz and Morkel were satisfied that the money did not originate from Harksen.
”Instead of dealing with the money in the normal course a convoluted and furtive procedure was adopted.”
An Absa official Erik Marais testified that Morkel requested him to deal with the cash confidentially. But he did not pay the money into the DA account
in one tranche but made periodic payments of small amounts over a number of months.
During evidence Harksen alleged that Markowitz had boasted to him that he had received some improper advantage from the Arabella Country Estate in
Hermanus arising from the approval of the project and that it had been suggested that Markowitz had been guilty of improper conduct with regard to the tenders of the Cape Town International Convention Centre Company (Pty) Ltd.
The commission found that while it was not impossible that Markowitz could have made idle boasts, it found that no such improper conduct took place.
The Democratic Alliance is expected to hold a press conference on the matter later today.
Responding to the ”so-called findings” the DA said that it had been a political weapon used by the New National Party and the ANC to discredit the party.
”The fact is that after spending about R1,5-million of taxpayers’ money, the Desai Commission was unable to establish that either the DA, Gerald Morkel or Leon Markowitz received any money from Jurgen Harksen,” DA federal council chairman James Selfe said.
He said the DA had been advised that the commission misdirected itself and that chairman Judge Siraj Desai showed bias against the DA during its hearings, and that the DA would be successful if it asked the High Court to set aside the commission’s findings.
”However, we have no desire to waste any more money or attach any more significance to this matter,” he said. – I-Net Bridge, Sapa