If Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has his way, arms deal critic Terry Crawford-Browne’s drive to court in his rusty Fiat Uno on Wednesday morning will be one of the last trips he makes in the car.
Manuel’s bid to sequestrate Crawford-Browne, a vocal opponent of the multibillion-rand arms deal, will be heard in the Cape High Court on Wednesday along with a string of counter-claims by Crawford-Browne.
Manuel is seeking to recover legal bills of just under a million rand incurred by the government in fighting Crawford-Browne’s court challenges to the deal.
However Crawford-Browne, a former banker, maintains that the minister’s claim is malicious and pointless.
He says that apart from the Uno, which is worth about R7 000 and has already been attached — meaning he may not dispose of it before Manuel’s claim is settled — he has no assets.
”I have none,” he told the South African Press Agency on Tuesday.
”I’ve spent them all. He doesn’t believe me: he thinks I’m hiding my millions in my wife’s name.”
Crawford-Browne, who will be arguing his own case on Wednesday, has filed a counter-claim, calling on the court to rule that Manuel committed fraud and perjury in relation to the deal, that in pursuing the sequestration he is abusing his powers, and to award punitive damages of R25-million against the minister. – Sapa