Publication: Sapa Issued: Pretoria Date: 2005-11-11 Reporter: Mariette le Roux

Yengeni Judgment Reflects On Judicial Transformation: Student Body

 

Publication 

Sapa
BC-COURT-YENGENI-REAX

Date

2005-11-11

Issued

Pretoria

Reporter

 Mariette le Roux

 

The SA Students Congress expressed outrage on Friday at the Pretoria High Court's dismissal of an appeal by politician Tony Yengeni against a fraud conviction and four-year sentence.

"This ruling is clearly an indication that our country is still very far from the judiciary transformation (sic)," it said in a statement.

The student body said Yengeni's conviction related to his failure to register a benefit in Parliament, and did not involve the actual theft of money from any state organ or individual.

"Failure to disclose in Parliament is not equivalent to a heinous crime but is a procedural matter," the statement read.

"As Sasco, we are failing to understand the logic of the court because many self-confessed rapists and racists mass murderers under the leadership of (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader) Eugene Terreblanche get only 18 months while our leaders are sent away for simple discounts (sic).

"Even worse, the court was contemplating to increase his sentence which clearly demonstrate its desire to remove him from the society (sic)."

Sasco urged the justice department to speed up judicial transformation "to avoid this glaring double standard".

The African Christian Democratic Party said Yengeni should be thankful his sentence was not increased.

"This judgment sends a clear message regarding society's disapproval of fraud and corruption which is reported to cost the South African economy between R50 billion and R150 billion a year," it said in a media statement.

"The court's decision falls in line with President Thabo Mbeki's commitment to fight fraud and corruption. It further indicates that no person, including those with political clout, is above the law."

Democratic Alliance chief whip Douglas Gibson the judgment was a "withering refutation" of Yengeni's allegations about the former director of public prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka.

"The judges have sent a message that those who are corrupt should be made to pay for it."

The African National Congress could not be reached for comment.

The Pretoria High Court found that the four-year jail term imposed on Yengeni "errs significantly on the side of leniency".

A sentence of five years in effect would have been more appropriate, judges Eberhard Bertelsmann and Ferdi Preller said.

Yengeni's sentence stipulates he could be released into correctional supervision after eight months behind bars.

The judges found the politician had been correctly convicted of defrauding Parliament by failing to disclose a near-50 percent discount on a 4x4 Mercedes-Benz.

He had lied about it for nearly two years.

A non-custodial sentence, as sought by the State and the defence, would be "flagrantly inappropriate", they said.

Initially charged with corruption and fraud, Yengeni was convicted in 2003 of an alternative count of fraud following plea negotiations with the State.

The car deal was arranged by a representative of a bidder in the government's arms acquisition process, at a time when Yengeni was chairman of Parliament's joint standing committee on defence.

The judges said Yengeni had begun the fraudulent deal, and then helped prepare a backdated agreement of sale falsely stating the car had been purchased at a price of R230,052, and that he had paid a R50,000 deposit.

He in fact paid R182,563 in total.

Yengeni placed newspaper advertisements proclaiming his innocence and attacking his accusers and investigators, the judges said.

There could be no doubt that he intended to deceive Parliament and the public at large.

The judges rejected Yengeni's claim that Ngcuka had promised him a fine not exceeding R5000 if he pleaded guilty to a "watered down" charge.

"... it bears every hallmark of a desperate clutching at straws to escape the consequences of (his) actions rather than the ring of truth".

The court dismissed with costs Yengeni's application for a review of his trial on the basis of the alleged deal with Ngcuka, and his appeal against conviction and sentence.

Yengeni has instructed his lawyers to approach the high court for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein.

If this was denied, he would petition the SCA directly, said Yengeni's attorney Marius du Toit.

Yengeni, who is out on bail, has two weeks to file the required court documents or report to jail.

With acknowledgements to Mariette le Roux and Sapa.