Publication: Business Day Date: 2005-11-17 Reporter: Chris van Gass Reporter:

Arms-Deal Critic Turns Tables on Manuel

 

Publication 

Business Day
Date

2005-11-17

Reporter

 Chris van Gass

Web Link

www.bday.co.za

 

Still reeling from a series of earlier court setbacks, arms-deal critic Terry Crawford-Browne came out fighting yesterday after the Cape High Court dismissed an application by Finance Minister Trevor Manuel to have him sequestrated.

No sooner had Judge Roger Cleaver ruled that there was no advantage to creditors in having Crawford-Browne provisionally sequestrated for nearly R1m in legal bills he racked up in his court battles with government, than Crawford-Browne said that he intended seeking R25m in punitive damages from Manuel.

Crawford-Browne said that Manuel’s bid to have him sequestrated was an attempt to silence him and was “vindictive”.

He said the judgment put the arms deal issue “back into play”.

When Independent Democrats MP Patricia de Lille said in Parliament in June that she wanted to reopen her dossier on the arms deal, “the minister said it was a Crawford-Browne document, and that she was a useful instrument in the hands of failed arms deal bidders … two days later he applied for my sequestration”, he said.

“He’s trying to silence me,” said Crawford-Browne.

While applying for punitive damages was not common in SA law, it was used in countries such as Canada and New Zealand to prevent government ministers from abusing their powers.

“Sadly government was warned in 1998-99 that the arms deal was just an invitation to corruption. They wouldn’t listen. They tried to put a lid on it, and it keeps coming back and biting them,” said Crawford-Browne.

A former banker, Crawford-Browne 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.

The judge said: “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.

“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.”

The national treasury issued a statement yesterday, saying: “The outcome is unfortunate because we believe that Terry Crawford-Browne must take responsibility for his actions.

“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.”

With acknowledgements to Chris van Gass and Business Day.