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INLSA<\/p>\n
Cape town-based Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi. Picture: Liz\ufffdll Muller<\/p>\n
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Racketeering charges in major trials, including the \u201cAmigos\u201d corruption and fraud trial and the Cato Manor \u201cdeath squad\u201d case, hang in the balance with the launch of a constitutional challenge to SA\u2019s US-styled tough legislation. <\/p>\n
If opposed, the case lodged this week against the National Director of Public Prosecutions and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development by the main accused in the \u201cAmigos case\u201d, Cape town-based Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi, will first be heard by KwaZulu-Natal Judge Ron McLaren, but will ultimately be decided by the Constitutional Court \u2013 a process that could take a year. <\/p>\n
In the meantime, Savoi\u2019s attorney, George van Niekerk, says that, while the State is entitled to proceed with cases involving racketeering charges, it does so at risk because, if the challenge succeeds, major parts of the legislation will be scrapped. <\/p>\n
Trials affected include those in KZN and the Northern Cape, in which Savoi himself is charged with money laundering, fraud and corruption for allegedly paying sweeteners to get contracts to provide water purification and oxygen plants to provincial governments and municipalities. <\/p>\n
A racketeering conviction comes with a stiff penalty of a fine of up to a maximum of R1 billion and 30 years in jail. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese charges are a short-cut for the State because it is such a broad offence,\u201d says Van Niekerk. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am surprised that no one has litigated on this before. At the request of the State, we hung back on filing the application, but we have had (advocates) Francois van Zyl SC, Gilbert Marcus SC and Kemp J Kemp SC working on it with several junior advocates. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the State withdraws the racketeering charges and we drop the constitutional challenge, it will be easy for another litigant to pick up on it because we have done all the hard work.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said that, without the racketeering charges, the State would have a tougher job in court. <\/p>\n
In his affidavit, Savoi says sections of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act of 1998 should be scrapped entirely. <\/p>\n
He says that, while the actual crime of racketeering is not defined in the act, a \u201cpattern of racketeering\u201d is said to be the planned and repeated participation or involvement in at least two offences on a \u201claundry list of crimes\u201d which constitute the acts on which the racketeering charge is based. <\/p>\n
He says the law was based on and \u201cstrongly influenced\u201d by the US\u2019s Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organisations Act (Rico), a fact which has been acknowledged by the Supreme Court of Appeal. <\/p>\n
In fact, he says, parts of the act are a \u201ccut and paste\u201d of Rico, including the definition of a pattern of racketeering which has been described in US courts as being \u201celusive and uninformative\u201d. <\/p>\n
Savoi says the Prevention of Organised Crime Act\u2019s definition is similarly \u201cimpermissibly vague, unintelligible and meaningless\u201d, and the definition of an \u201centerprise\u201d was overbroad and unworkable. \u201cThe rule of law requires that laws must be written in a clear and accessible manner, and must indicate with reasonable certainty to those who are bound by them what is required of them, so that they may regulate their conduct accordingly. If it does not, then it is constitutionally offensive,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Carl van der Merwe, the attorney for the Cato Manor policemen who are facing more than 100 charges relating to the death squad allegations, said if the application succeeded, it would have an impact on the case. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLSA Cape town-based Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi. Picture: Liz\ufffdll Muller \u00a0 Racketeering charges in major trials, including the \u201cAmigos\u201d corruption and fraud trial and the Cato Manor \u201cdeath squad\u201d case, hang in the balance with the launch of a constitutional challenge to SA\u2019s US-styled tough legislation. If opposed, the case lodged this week against the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-14850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}