King case exposes NPA numskulls
THOUGH Dave King apologised this week for his “mistake” in not cooperating with the authorities as part of his R706.7-million “settlement”, it’s clear who won this particular round — and it wasn’t the state.
Three years ago, the bumbling National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) torpedoed a “settlement” with King. At the time, former NPA boss Menzi Simelane said the state would never settle, and would rather spend R1-billion to put King behind bars, so important was this case in sending out the “right message”.
Well, Simelane might not be truthful about much, but he was right about the importance of the case. If the NPA was right that King did all the bad things he was supposed to have done — diddling SARS out of billions — and they couldn’t prosecute him after 11 years, it’s probably best that the prosecuting service tucked its tail between its legs.
It was probably a condition of the settlement that King agree to a spin-doctored press statement this week that removed some of the blush from the NPA’s red face, but it fooled nobody.
King supposedly said: “I regret not engaging with the state sooner as I have found them to be extremely firm but fair in their dealings with me once I fully engaged with them. I accept the fact that I have been non-compliant in the past.”
In the end, it is a small sacrifice for King to agree to those words to enable him to put this sorry matter behind him — even though his prospects for defeating the NPA were pretty good.
After all, the R150 000 fine for Fidentia boss J Arthur Brown clearly shows the NPA couldn’t nail a marshmallow to a table right now. But the fact that the merits of the case weren’t heard after a decade is shameful.
What the King case shows is that in future SARS shouldn’t waste its time referring any cases to the NPA. Even where there is real tax evasion — and this was never proved in King’s case. All that happens is you get gridlocked in a dysfunctional criminal justice system for years.
Instead, it seems, SARS should rather take its problems to the civil courts. That at least seems to be the approach it plans to take with gangster Glenn Agliotti.
The NPA has already proved itself unwilling and too incom- petent to deal with Agliotti.
Years ago, the NPA offered him immunity from prosecution for testifying about how he’d bribed former police chief Jackie Selebi.
Judge Meyer Joffe, however, refused to grant Agliotti immunity, saying he was an “unreliable” witness who hadn’t answered questions honestly.
So what did the NPA do about this? Absolutely nothing.
Which makes a mockery of its own shoddy process. What’s the point of the NPA granting “indemnity” in exchange for evidence if it isn’t going to prosecute you anyway if it’s refused?
Little wonder SARS hasn’t bothered to ask the dozy prosecutors to investigate Agliotti, despite what appears to be clear evidence that he dodged tax.
Last September, SARS lodged papers for Agliotti’s sequestration (which is still to be finalised) saying he had a R78-million tax bill, and effectively accusing him of stashing cash overseas.
SARS said Agliotti “failed to disclose information which he was obliged to disclose in his tax returns”— an offence.
In his tax returns, Agliotti said that from 1995 to 2004, he earned “taxable income” of R1 304 620 — about R145 000 a year. Yet not only did he pay his ex-fiancée’s bond of R380 000, he was paid R11-million from the late crook Brett Kebble, through a company called Spring Lights.
Even now, Agliotti rents a house at Pecanwood, the luxury golf estate in Hartbeespoort, and drives fancy cars. The taxman said his lifestyle “creates the picture of an extremely wealthy man, who travels extensively”.
So what are the consequences if Agliotti has, as SARS claims, hidden assets and lied? At best, a long grinding court battle, followed by some “settlement”. Certainly no criminal consequences.
After an unsatisfying 11-year battle with King, during which the NPA dragged his name through the mud but ended up proving nothing, this has to be the limit of the state’s ambition.