Publication: Sapa Issued: Cape Town Date: 2005-11-16 Reporter: Ben Maclennan

Arms Activist Ruling Unfortunate: Treasury

 

Publication 

Sapa
BC-COURT-2ND-LD-ARMS

Date

2005-11-16

Issued

Cape Town

Reporter

 Ben Maclennan

 

The state should not have to pay the legal costs of arms deal critic Terry Crawford-Browne's campaign, the National Treasury said on Wednesday.

It was responding to a Cape High Court judge's refusal earlier in the day to grant Finance Minister Trevor Manuel a provisional sequestration order against Crawford-Browne.

"The outcome is unfortunate *1 because we believe that Terry Crawford-Browne must take responsibility for his actions *1," the Treasury said in a statement.

"Mr Crawford-Browne continues to abuse the court system to fight a campaign that has no legal basis. The state should not be required to pay the legal costs for his campaigns, resulting in the taxpayer footing the bill."

Manuel was seeking to recover almost a million rand in legal fees incurred by the state in defeating a series of court challenges by Crawford-Browne to the multi-billion rand deal.

Crawford-Browne, a former banker, maintains that he has spent all his money on his arms deal campaign, has no assets apart from a rusty Fiat Uno, and that there is no point in sequestrating him.

Ruling on Manuel's application, Judge Roger Cleaver said the minister's counsel had argued that a sequestration enquiry would be able to probe any transactions between Crawford-Browne and his wife, who owns a Milnerton apartment worth at least R475 000.

However, for these to fall under the net of the Insolvency Act, Crawford-Browne would have had to be insolvent at the time, and there was no suggestion in the papers before the court that this had been the case.

"Properly analysed, the reasons advanced on behalf of the applicant to the effect that it will be to the advantage of creditors to grant the order seem to me to amount to nothing more than speculation," he said.

"In the circumstances, I am not persuaded that the applicant has made out a case, even on a prima facie basis, that there is reason to believe that a provisional order will be to the financial advantage of creditors."

Crawford-Browne, who appeared before the judge without legal representation, welcomed the ruling.

"I'm very pleased," he said. "I think he [Manuel] was simply abusing his powers, as he's done throughout. He's trying to silence me."

He said Cleaver's decision "put the ball back into play" on the arms deal.

He now intended to lodge a High Court application for a declaration that the minister committed perjury and fraud when he said there was no link between a series of loan agreements he signed, and the arms purchase agreements.

This was like saying buying a house had nothing to do with the mortgage. It was a "textbook example of Third World debt entrapment", he said.

With acknowledgements to Ben Maclennan and Sapa.


*1  The Arms Deal is very unfortunate and its perpetrators should take responsibility for their actions.