AFU freezing order confirmed
Today, 10 May 2013 the Northern Cape High Court confirmed a provisional restraint order obtained by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in November 2012 against most of the parties involved.
The court will decide at a later date whether the order should be make final against the parties that opposed the order, namely the Trifecta Group, the trustees of the Shosholoza Trust and Palesa Lebona.
It is noteworthy that none of the other individuals involved (listed below) opposed the order, and it was made final against them. Thus the court confirmed that the payments received by a number of politicians and officials (other than Lebona) of the Department of Social Development (the department) from the Trifecta Group will remain frozen pending the outcome of their prosecution for fraud and corruption.
The court found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that these payments were corrupt payments or kickbacks, and that the inflated rentals were paid as a result of corruption.
Assets to the value of corrupt payments listed below have been restrained.
They have already been arrested by the Hawks and will appear in court again in August 2013 for the criminal trial.
AFU granted further freezing order against Mr Botes
In a separate but related case, the court also granted the AFU an additional preservation order to freeze 10 ordinary shares (worth about R20 million) the Trifecta Group awarded to the Poliyana Property Trust in which Mr Alvin Botes and his wife are Trustees and their two children are beneficiaries.
The NPA wishes to emphasise that it will continue to take strong action against those who are guilty of corruption and, in effect, steal resources meant for the upliftment of the poorest of the poor in our country.
Anti-Corruption Task Team
The case is part of the ongoing work of the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) set up by Cabinet in July 2010 to deal more effectively with large corruption cases. It consists of the Hawks, prosecutors and the AFU from the NPA and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
Background as an additional information:
A provisional restraint order, which was made final against some persons today, was originally granted on 30 November 2012 and froze the assets of, amongst others:
- the Trifecta Group
- Alfeus Scholtz, Director of the Trifecta group
- Mr John Block and Mr Alvin Botes – members or former members of the provincial cabinet in the Northern Cape
- Ms Yolanda Botha – Member of Parliament and the former Head of the Department
- Rodney Saal, Cecil Ryland and Palesa Lebona – officials of the department
The AFU submits in its court papers that there is evidence that are reasonable grounds to believe that:
1. The Trifecta Group entered into a number of lease agreements with the department in which the rentals and/or rental space were grossly inflated. As a result, the Trifecta Group received or will receive (until the expiry of such lease agreements) rentals of R57 million.
2. Block, at the time MEC for the Northern Cape Department of Road Transport and Public Works, used his political position to influence the process in favour of Trifecta, and received the following payments from the Trifecta Group:
- cash payments totalling R1.3 million
- Ten ordinary shares in Trifecta (worth about R20 million) and
- renovations to the value of about R346 919 to an Upington guesthouse owned by him.
3. Botha, at the time the Head of the Department, authorised deviations to the lease acquisition process in contravention of the supply chain process and received the following payments from the Trifecta Group:
- payments in a form of renovations to her Kimberley house worth R1.2 million
- Ten ordinary shares (worth about R20 million) transferred into the Jyba Trust in which her relatives are beneficiaries. The AFU has already instituted a forfeiture application in relation to the shares which is being opposed by Botha
Botha has been found guilty by the Parliamentary Ethics Committee of failing to disclose receipt of the renovations and shares;
4. Botes, at the time the a member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature and MEC responsible for the department, received the following payments from the Trifecta Group:
- cash payments totalling R766 407 as a salary, some of which he collected whilst a member of the provincial legislature and an MEC and some of which was not declared and/or was not lawful for him to receive
- Ten ordinary shares (worth about R20 million) in Trifecta in respect of which the High Court granted a freezing order today five Saal, Ryland and Lebona, public servants in the Department of Social Development, received payments of R2 000 each for ‘Christmas’ from the Trifecta Group.
