apartheid guns and money: a tale of profit

our publishers:

In forging its future, a new generation of South Africans need to grapple with the baffling silence regarding apartheid-era economic crime and ask difficult questions about of those who profited from it. This book provides the evidence and motivation.

South Africa remains a deeply unequal society battling the legacy of apartheid and the persistence of corrupt networks that seek to ‘capture’ its democratically elected leaders. In Apartheid Guns and Money, Hennie van Vuuren argues that, in the absence of accountability, corrupt networks of the past stay in business. Rather than face justice, they invite members of the new elite to the table. In over 600 pages, this meticulously researched book finally lifts the lid on some of the darkest secrets of apartheid’s economic crimes, weaving together a treasure trove of newly declassified documents and eyewitness accounts.

This book is an exposé of the machinery created in defence of apartheid,  sanctions-busting, and the people who profited from it: heads of states, arms dealers, aristocrats, plutocrats, senators, bankers, spies, journalists and members of secret lobby groups. In creating the apartheid arms money machine they were complicit in a crime against humanity. Whistle-blowers were assassinated and ordinary people suffered. Finally, this network of profit is revealed.

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now available outside of South Africa!

As of 1 November 2018, ‘Apartheid Guns and Money: a tale of profit’ is available for purchase in the United Kingdom. This is the first time the book is accessible outside of South Africa. If you are in the UK and would like to purchase a copy of the book, please get in touch with Hurst Publishers.

reviews

read what others have to say

“In probing this troubled and quiet past, van Vuuren productively ruptures a comfortable separation between the apartheid era and contemporary South Africa. ‘The current struggle against corruption in South Africa,” he concludes, “is undermined by a basic lack of appreciation of the nature of that corruption and the criminal networks that facilitate it—namely, that they are continuities of a profoundly corrupt system that predates the first democratic election.'”

~Andrew Offenberger, Assistant Professor of History at Miami University

 

“It’s not very often that a book really reshapes our perception of an issue, but Hennie van Vuuren’s “Apartheid, Guns and Money: a tale of profit” is one. It is a massive work: over 600 pages and the result of a decade of meticulous, painstaking work.”

~ Martin Plaut (School of Advanced Study), The Conversation

 

“When secretive evil deeds are covered in darkness they prosper. From apartheid-era asset stripping they have probably mutated and continue to influence our democratic dispensation. This work shines a light, revealing many uncomfortable truths. It provides important lessons on unfinished business and the need for us now more than ever to find pathways to integrity. These are essential elements for achieving social justice.”

~ Thuli Madonsela, Former Public Protector

“Apartheid Guns and Money… is probably the single most important book that has been written about South Africa for the last 20 years.”

~ Professor Achille Mbembe, WiSER, author of ‘On the Postcolony’

“A brilliant urgent account of our history. Go out and get Apartheid Guns and Money…once you start, you won’t stop until the last page.”

~ Redi Thlabi, broadcaster and award-winning author of ‘Endings and Beginnings’ and ‘Khwezi’

“This important book seeks to uncover one of the key secrets of the last decades of the apartheid era, how the National Party government sought to defeat the international arms embargo. It serves as a timely reminder that the founding values of our new Constitution, that government must be accountable, responsive and open, were a rejection of the clandestine and authoritarian apartheid government, and are key to building a democracy that serves the people.”

~ Justice Kate O’Regan, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and current Director of the Bonavero Institution of Human Rights, Oxford University

 

“By the time you get to the last page of Hennie van Vuuren’s excellent new book, you’ll hopefully understand why South Africans have such little appetite for the past. For, as van Vuuren shows in this passionate and meticulously researched book, ours is an undigested and perhaps indigestible history; that is, we have yet to tuck into the history of endemic corruption and economic crimes at the heart of apartheid and its non-racial successor. But were we to try and take this ugly history in, we would soon discover that it is inedible. This is for the simple reason that its mix of ingredients challenges some of the most comforting stories South Africans have been telling themselves…in Apartheid Guns and Money, van Vuuren and his team of researchers have written a book that, in typical South African fashion, will make for both depressing and hopeful reading: depressing because of the brilliant ways in which the book lays bare the scope and scale of economic crimes at the heart of apartheid (which van Vuuren rightly describes as a criminal economy); hopeful because, as van Vuuren shows so well, the struggle against corruption is indeed a human rights struggle and that, as we know from South Africa’s own history, it can be won. But it must be fought for.”

~ Jacob Dlamini, author of ‘Askari’ and Associate Professor of History at Princeton University

“In this brilliant, revelatory book van Vuuren forensically reveals the systemic corruption of apartheid and the collusion between the state, local and foreign businesses and governments at its core. This dark chapter in our history is essential to understand and progress beyond the current spiral of corruption, collusion and state capture that bedevils our young democracy. It lays bare the roots of the criminality at the heart of our politics and business, explaining how events ranging from the Arms Deal, Marikana and the Gupta phenomenon are possible, perhaps even inevitable. It illustrates that corruption and deceit know no racial, ideological or national boundaries. It argues compellingly that in our fraught country, and world, democracy demands daily struggle.This is a crucial book at a vital time in our history. It is a must read!”

~ Andrew Feinstein, former ANC MP, author of ‘After the Party’ and ‘The Shadow World’, Executive Director of Corruption Watch UK

“A labour of political passion, this admirably well-researched book is a must-read. Its most important achievement is to show that illicit trade does not occur in some parallel realm detached from corporate boardrooms and governments; it is stitched into the fabric of statecraft and the exercise of power.”

~ Jonny Steinberg, author and Professor of African Studies, Oxford University

“R2K salutes the research team of Open Secrets South Africa for their commitment in unearthing the truth. We are very proud to call them comrades! Ongazi Makazi!” 

~ Statement by the Right2Know Campaign

“Apartheid Guns and Money, for my money, should be on the list of prescribed books for high school students in Grades 11 and 12 as well as university students, especially those majoring in political science, economics and forensic investigations.” 

~ Kim Helfrich, DefenceWeb

in the media

Apartheid Guns and Money has garnered significant public and media interest both within and outside of South Africa

Justice for apartheid economic crime: Start with the bankers

Justice for apartheid economic crime: Start with the bankers

Today many civil society organisations jointly call on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to crack down on corporations who assisted the apartheid state and profited from economic crimes under apartheid. To date they have escaped any accountability for their crimes in supporting and sustaining apartheid – a crime against humanity.

We urge the NPA to act without fear or favour in prosecuting networks of economic criminals. This includes those who assisted the apartheid state and profited from the apartheid regime and have been allowed to act with impunity despite the significant human rights abuses they have contributed to.

We therefore support the call made by fellow civil society organisation Open Secrets for prosecutions of apartheid era economic crimes. This detailed evidence was submitted as a memorandum to the NPA on 27 August 2020. It calls on the NPA to prosecute two European banks – KBC Group (previously Kredietbank) and Kredietbank Luxembourg (KBL, as of January 2020, Quintet Private Bank). The two banks were effectively responsible for channelling as much as R350 billion (over $20billion) through a global money-laundering scheme. This network was used to secretly buy weapons, despite mandatory UN arms sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

Without the support of these banks and other South African financial institutions, the apartheid state would not have been able to procure the arms and weapons needed to enforce, maintain and implement its policy of apartheid, which constitutes a ‘crime against humanity’.

An important component of accountability is combating impunity and dismantling the networks and institutions responsible for corporate crime, as there is a link between the institutions that perpetrated these crimes in the past and those responsible for state capture today. Holding these instrumental actors to account, including through prosecution, is a critical step to restoring the Rule of Law in our country today.

We also note that the Commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) have issued a separate letter today to Adv. Shamila Batohi calling for the NPA to act on this evidence. We recognise that the TRC, in its final report in 2003, called on the NPA to pursue perpetrators not awarded amnesty through a process of ‘bold prosecutions’ of apartheid crimes. This has not happened, in large part because of political interference in the NPA’s work under previous administrations. It is for this reason that prosecutions against these economic criminals and other apartheid era human rights violators would send a clear signal that the NPA stands firm against impunity.

 

South Africa faces many pressing problems today, including the profiteers of Covid-19 relief and the legacy of recent state capture networks. The corrupt corporations and politicians who profit from these deals have caused pain and suffering to the South African people. They have made us poorer, more unequal and taken away jobs. The legacy of apartheid era economic criminals is no less severe and important and we demand that the NPA prosecutes these actors without fear or favour. This is a necessary and urgent step towards social justice.

The South African Coalition for Transitional Justice (SACTJ) – endorsed by friends of SACTJ and the following organisations:
1. Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS)
2. Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
3. Foundation for Human Rights (FHR)
4. Human Rights Media Centre (HRMC)
5. Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR)
6. Khulumani Support Group (KSG)
7. (Open Secrets)
8. South African History Archives (SAHA)
9. Violence Prevention Agency (VPA)

Additional civil society endorsements:
10. Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC)
11. Corruption Watch (CW)
12. International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG)
13. Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR)
14. Legal Resources Centre (LRC)
15. My Vote Counts (MVC)
16. Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA)
17. Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI)
18. Section27 (S27)
19. Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI)
20. Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC)
21. Shadow World Investigations (SWI)
22. Unpaid Benefits Campaign (UBC)

Justice for Ahmed Timol and other apartheid victims – A statement by the South African Coalition for Transitional Justice

Justice for Ahmed Timol and other apartheid victims

Press Statement by the South African Coalition for Transitional Justice

The South African Coalition for Transitional Justice (SACTJ) notes with deep concern the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) that it does not intend to pursue charges against two apartheid Security Branch police officers, Seth Sons and Neville Els, implicated in the torture and murder of Ahmed Timol in 1971. Judge Billy Mothle ruled in the Gauteng High Court in October 2017 that Timol was murdered and that Els and Sons be investigated for misleading the court and that both should be charged with perjury. They were found to have lied under oath during the reopened inquest indicating that they had no knowledge of the torture of detainees and had only learnt of the assaults from reports in the media. The NPA has decided not to prosecute them on what seems to be spurious grounds.

This reopened inquest presented an important window for truth recovery and justice for Timol’s family who battled since 2003 to reopen the case in the face of years of inaction by the NPA. This case also has great significance for the families of victims of unresolved cases of torture and murder during the apartheid period, and whose cases have been neglected for many years. The Timol case is significant as it has opened up an opportunity for the families to learn about what happened to loved ones and finally begin the process of healing and closure. This decision is deeply disconcerting as it suggests that the NPA has once again lost the appetite to pursue justice in the name of victims.

These cases represent an important unresolved legacy of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. There were many apartheid perpetrators who did not come forward to apply for amnesty or who were unwilling to disclose the truth and who came forward but were denied amnesty as they had not made full disclosure or told the truth. The families of their victims have been waiting patiently for justice to take its course.  Even though the TRC presented the NPA with over 300 cases that deserved further investigation and potential prosecution, hardly any have been pursued.

The NPA has a constitutional obligation to pursue such cases and has repeatedly neglected this duty largely due to political interference as stated in court papers explaining its failure to act. Victims’ families have had to pursue justice without state assistance. The decision to now drop criminal charges in a case where a judge has explicitly instructed such prosecution presents a new low point in the NPA’s treatment of victims of human rights violations.

The NPA’s reasons for dropping charges included:

Factors such as the passage of time – 46 years at the time of their evidence – [and] their advanced ages – 80 and 82 years – place the State in a difficult position to prove that they are deliberately lying. Both Messrs Els and Sons did not testify in the original inquest proceedings in June 1972 or made statements then, and thus had to rely on their memories.

These arguments are manifestly spurious, as the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) in South Africa upheld the conviction of Robert Hewitt, the professional tennis player for the rape of two young girls, crimes that had been perpetrated in the 1980s. Hewitt was convicted and sentenced 37 years later when he was 75 years old.  The SCA held regarding his age “that whilst the courts have considered oldness as a mitigating factor, it is certainly not a bar to a sentence of imprisonment.”[1]  The Full Bench in the Rodrigues matter in dealing with Joao Rodrigues’s contention that he was old and infirm and that his memory was suspect reviewed the jurisprudence dealing with age and concluded that “..age and infirmity are not grounds upon which the applicant can singularly rely on as a form of prejudice. These are grounds which, generally, a trial court must consider at sentencing.”

If allowed to stand, these arguments will undermine the cause of justice for other outstanding cases such as those of the Cradock 4, the PEBCO case, Simelane, Bambo and many others which are before the NPA.

After many years of blatant political interference in the operations of the NPA, those hoping for justice for apartheid-era victims welcomed the appointment of the new National Director of Public Prosecutions, Adv Shamila Batohi, and her commitment to pursue justice in the public interest. The latest actions of the NPA, however, speak louder than words.

The SACTJ members fought against the state’s attempt to introduce a back door amnesty for apartheid-era abuses in the form of special political pardons that side-lined victims from the process. In that struggle, political leaders and justice officials failed to take the rights of victims to heart, and it was only after litigation that the Constitutional Court ruled in 2010 that victims’ participation could not be ignored. We are saddened to observe that the state still appears to be more beholden to political agendas than the rights of victims. We want to remind the state that as long as the apartheid perpetrators of crimes against humanity are allowed to escape justice there can be no reconciliation and no peace. The unpunished injustices of the past devalue the sacrifices that were made and undermines the foundations on which our democracy is built.

We therefore call on the NPA to:

* review the decision not to press charges as directed by Judge Mothle against Seth Sons and Neville Els and to indict them for perjury and;

* identify and investigate other security branch officials’ who have been implicated in the murder of Neil Agget, and other apartheid-era victims and indict under the crime of apartheid;

* develop a clear plan for how it will pursue prosecutions in relation to cases that emerged from the TRC investigations and findings, and consult with relevant stakeholders in developing this framework;

* account to families of victims who have been left in the dark about progress on their cases.

The members of the South African Coalition for Transitional Justice are: Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Foundation for Human Rights, Human Rights Media Centre, Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Khulumani Support Group, Open Secrets, South African History Archives, Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture, and Violence Prevention Agency

For further information, please contact:

Hugo van der Merwe, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation: +27 82 570 0744

Shirley Gunn, Human Rights Media Centre: +27 82 450 9276

[1]           S v Hewitt 2017 (1) SACR 309 (SCA) at para 15.

A recent court ruling could see many dark apartheid-era secrets coming to light

Geraldine Frieslaar and Hennie van Vuuren| Daily Maverick | 5 June 2020|

Good news and glimmers of hope are in short supply these days. This is perhaps all the more reason to take note of a recent precedent-setting court judgement. In the past week, feisty pint-sized civil society organisations prevailed against the mighty South African Reserve Bank. It was a judgment that significantly boosts our hard-won democratic right to know.

In a judgment handed down by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on Friday 29 May, the South African History Archive (SAHA) prevailed in a six-year battle for access to information. SAHA and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) faced one another before the SCA in Bloemfontein in an epic battle centred on the release of apartheid-era records. SAHA was represented by an indefatigable legal team led by Lawyers for Human Rights and advocates Geoff Budlender SC, Nasreen Rajab-Budlender and Frances Hobden.

SAHA’s appeal was not only to ensure access to these records, but also to ultimately secure the right of access to information for all South Africans – something that was on shaky ground after an earlier judgement by the South Gauteng High Court.

The SCA judgment, upheld with costs, is particularly important as it signals a tremendous victory for democracy and our constitutional right to access information. This is hopefully the final instalment in a long saga which started in 2014 when SAHA initially made requests to the Reserve Bank to access information. This request was undertaken in consultation with Open Secrets, which investigates the links between economic crime and human rights abuses.

The records in question all related to serious economic crimes during apartheid. The Reserve Bank is the holder of a treasure trove of information concerning the economic machinations of the apartheid regime. While we rightly examine the role of the police and the military during apartheid, there is comparatively little understanding of the important bureaucratic function played by institutions such as the Reserve Bank. As a pillar of the regime’s economic system, the bank authorised and provided oversight on money flows meant to procure the weapons and clandestine goods without which PW Botha’s regime would have crumbled.

As far as we are aware, there has been no successful effort to ensure that the SARB reveals part of its records that could shine a light on this history. Instead, the public has been led astray in recent years by misguided legal skirmishes led by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane against SARB, which seemed more directed by factional party politics than genuine public interest.

Such politically motivated legal battles have undermined genuine efforts to shed light on South Africa’s past. The extent to which institutions like the SARB were embedded in the apartheid system underscores the importance of accessing information held in their archival vaults.

Read more here

Appeals Court ruling on Reserve Bank welcomed

SABC News | 31 May 2020 |

The South African History Archive has described the Supreme Court of Appeal ruling ordering the South African Reserve Bank to release certain apartheid-era records, as a victory for democracy.
In a landmark ruling, the SCA set aside a High Court judgment denying SA History Archive access to documents of suspected apartheid-era financial crimes..

Speaking truth to power: Dulcie September and Daphne Caruana Galizia

Neroli Price | Maverick Life | 29 May 2020

These podcasts pay homage to two women who stood up for what they believed in and paid with their life for uncovering the truth.

Dulcie September and Daphne Caruana Galizia were from different countries and different eras, but they both stood up for what they believed in: accountability and justice. This week, we take a look at two stories that examine why these women were murdered and what we can learn from their legacies.

My Mother’s Murder – Paul Caruana Galizia (Tortoise Media)

Length: 4 episodes, 30 minutes each

Format: Miniseries

Year: 2020

Listen on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or any other podcast app or streaming service

On 16 October 2017 a car bomb killed investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia just meters from her home in Bidnija in the north-west of Malta. At the time of her death, Daphne was looking into connections between leaks contained in the Panama Papers and high-level Maltese politicians. Uncertain that there would ever be full justice in the case, Daphne’s son, Paul, sets out to investigate. The result is this podcast.

At first, Paul’s tone is jarring. As a narrator, Paul sounds deadpan and emotionless as he describes how, in the years leading up to her death, his mother was chased by mobs, their family dog killed and their house set on fire in efforts to intimidate her. For someone so close to the action, he sounds remarkably distant. Then slowly, you start to realise that Paul and his family were never afforded the right to grieve in private. Daphne’s murder was political and so their grief became political too. To honour her legacy, the family’s pain becomes an opportunity to speak out and to start something extraordinary in Malta: the beginning of accountability in a country where for so long those in power could literally get away with murder.

Read more here

MEDIA STATEMENT- Apartheid Banks: UN human rights experts call for reform of international corporate accountability mechanisms

Open Secrets and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies | 29 April 2020 |

Open Secrets and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) share a common goal of holding businesses accountable for their complicity in crimes against humanity which includes the crime of apartheid.

On 27 April 2018, CALS and Open Secrets laid a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (the OECD) that provided detailed evidence gathered by Open Secrets, against two European banks allegedly responsible for sustaining and strengthening the system of apartheid. Belgium’s Kredietbank (now known as KBC Group) and its sister bank in Luxembourg (KBL) are responsible for facilitating illicit money flows (like money laundering) that allowed the apartheid regime to secretly buy weapons despite mandatory arms sanctions introduced by the United Nations in the 1970s and 1980s. These weapons were essential in enabling domestic repression, and in the apartheid state’s wars and attempts to destabilise other governments and liberation movements in Southern Africa. Not only was the banks’ assistance vital to keeping the apartheid government in power, but they also profited from these transactions – building their companies on the suffering of millions of people. Apartheid was not only evil in practice, but had been declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations.

The OECD’s national contact points in Belgium and Luxembourg, tasked with investigating this complaint, have shown little interest in these crimes and the process was riddled with conflicts of interest that ultimately resulted in a decision not to investigate the complaint. Read the full complaint to the OECD here or find out more about it here.

Today we welcome a statement released by UN Independent Expert on Debt and Human Rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, who argues that this case highlights the need for urgent reform of the OECD corporate accountability mechanism as it, “highlighted the need to establish an independent committee to review potential procedural flaws”. Bohoslavsky, who has held this independent position within the UN system since 2014, was supported in his finding by an endorsement by Fabian Salvioli, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

Commenting on the serious case of conflicts of interested raised by Open Secrets and CALS  Bohoslavsky went on to add that, “I am also shocked about the fact that some representatives of the private sector’s NCP committee included KBC Group, and that despite numerous requests from the complainants to address the potential and apparent conflict of interest, no meaningful action was taken during or after the process. Being judge and judged at the same time is against basic legal principles.”

He added, “The appearance of conflict of interest remains and seriously undermines the credibility of the process. One aim was to shed light on alleged financial contributions to a criminal regime and ultimately understand how these actors could have allegedly contributed to its consolidation. This is about the victims’ fundamental right to the truth.”

Both Open Secrets and CALS remain committed to seeing accountability for complicity in these grave crimes by some of the world’s leading financial institutions.

 

Please see the full statement below:

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25831&LangID=E

Apartheid and bank complicity case: UN expert urges reform of OECD review mechanism to protect human rights

GENEVA (27 April 2020) – OECD Member States should consider establishing a mechanism to prevent conflict of interest of their National Contact Points (NPC’s) corporate review process to strengthen the procedure and its credibility. Conflicts of interest must be prevented in order to not undermine accountability for gross human rights violations, a UN expert said today.

The UN Independent Expert on debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, said a case alleging the involvement of two European banks in illegal arms dealings by South Africa’s apartheid regime highlighted the need to establish an independent committee to review potential procedural flaws.

Member States of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which represents the 36 wealthiest countries, established National Contact Points (NPCs) at the national level as an independent mechanism reviewing responsible business conduct including the respect of human rights.

In May 2018, civil society organisations submitted a complaint to NCPs of Belgium and Luxembourg alleging that KBL Bank and KBC Group of Belgium allowed South African state-owned enterprise Armscor to fund and conceal weapons purchases in violation of a UN embargo, as well as offering financial vehicles for money-laundering.

Bohoslavsky said the complaints were dismissed at a preliminary stage without full consideration of the evidence and ignoring the arguments made in his amicus curiae on the legal implications of responsibility for financial complicity in gross human rights violations and the paramount importance of the right to truth in this case.

“I am also shocked about the fact that some representatives of the private sector’s NCP committee included KBC Group, and that despite numerous requests from the complainants to address the potential and apparent conflict of interest, no meaningful action was taken during or after the process. Being judge and judged at the same time is against basic legal principles,” the Independent Expert said.

Bohoslavsky said he agreed with OECD that States should ensure National Contact Points operate impartially and without any risk of real or perceived conflict of interest.

“The appearance of conflict of interest remains and seriously undermines the credibility of the process. One aim was to shed light on alleged financial contributions to a criminal regime and ultimately understand how these actors could have allegedly contributed to its consolidation. This is about the victims’ fundamental right to the truth.

“It is key to guarantee that OECD’s review mechanism works properly in each member State and to ensure accountability for human rights violations, including in the context of gross human rights violations,” Bohoslavsky said.

However, he stressed: “In general, the authorities must ensure that potential victims have access to effective remedies for alleged human rights violations and that businesses act in accordance with their human rights obligations in all their operations.

“Ensuring that victims can exercise their basic right to truth and know what happened during apartheid, is essential,” the Independent Expert said.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

This issue was brought to the attention of concerned authorities in 2019: Belgium, Luxembourg and OECD. The Independent expert is grateful for responses received, from Belgium and OECD. The Independent Expert presented a report on responsibility for financial complicity to the Human Rights Council in 2015.

ENDS

Mr. Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky (Argentina) was appointed as Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and human rights by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 8 May 2014. He has previously worked as a Sovereign Debt Expert for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) where he coordinated an Expert Group on Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing. He is independent of any government or organization and serves in his individual capacity.

The Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organisation and serve in their individual capacity.

The Independent Expert’s appeal has been endorsed by Mr. Fabian Salvioli, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence.

Follow the Independent Expert’s work on Twitter: @IEfinanceHRs

For more information and media requests, please contact Ms Frédérique Bourque (fbourque@ohchr.org) or Mr. Bahram Ghazi (bghazi@ohchr.org) and

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Xabier Celaya (+ 41 22 917 9445 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts.

 

Apartheid and bank complicity case: UN expert urges reform of OECD review mechanism to protect human rights

Statement – United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner | GENEVA | 27 April 2020 |

OECD Member States should consider establishing a mechanism to prevent conflict of interest of their National Contact Points (NPC’s) corporate review process to strengthen the procedure and its credibility. Conflicts of interest must be prevented in order to not undermine accountability for gross human rights violations, a UN expert said today.

The UN Independent Expert on debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, said a case alleging the involvement of two European banks in illegal arms dealings by South Africa’s apartheid regime highlighted the need to establish an independent committee to review potential procedural flaws.

Membe States of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which represents the 36 wealthiest countries, established National Contact Points (NPCs) at the national level as an independent mechanism reviewing responsible business conduct including the respect of human rights.

In May 2018, civil society organisations submitted a complaint to NCPs of Belgium and Luxembourg alleging that KBL Bank and KBC Group of Belgium allowed South African state-owned enterprise Armscor to fund and conceal weapons purchases in violation of a UN embargo, as well as offering financial vehicles for money-laundering.

Bohoslavsky said the complaints were dismissed at a preliminary stage without full consideration of the evidence and ignoring the arguments made in his amicus curiae on the legal implications of responsibility for financial complicity in gross human rights violations and the paramount importance of the right to truth in this case.

“I am also shocked about the fact that some representatives of the private sector’s NCP committee included KBC Group, and that despite numerous requests from the complainants to address the potential and apparent conflict of interest, no meaningful action was taken during or after the process. Being judge and judged at the same time is against basic legal principles,” the Independent Expert said.

Read more here

Application to reveal apartheid corruption secrets goes to supreme court

Estelle Ellis | Daily Maverick | 3 March 2020

The Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday heard the appeal by the SA History Archive Trust against a ruling that will allow the SA Reserve Bank to keep records of significant fraud, corruption and gold smuggling under the apartheid government a secret.

In the latest chapter of a six-year showdown over records detailing “significant corruption and fraud” between 1980 and 1995 under the apartheid regime, the Supreme Court of Appeal has been asked to rule on an appeal by the South African History Archive Trust (SAHA) against a decision that allows the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to keep records and investigations a secret.

The matter started in August 2014. Then, SAHA applied in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act for the SARB to release documents relating to investigations into significant fraud, including fraud through the manipulation of the financial rand dual currency, foreign exchange or forging Eskom bonds, gold smuggling or smuggling of other precious metals from 1 January 1980 to 1 January 1995. The request was denied in October 2015.

The SARB claimed that it only held records relating to three of the individuals on SAHA’s list. These were Brigadier Jan Blaauw, a former brigadier in the South African Defence Force who was implicated in arms dealing to circumvent a ban by the UN, Sicilian banker and former South African resident Vito Palazzolo, who was recently released from prison in Sicily where he served time for Mafia-related crimes, and South African businessman Robert Hill, who allegedly fled the country in 1988 after he was implicated in the forgery of Eskom bonds.

In February 2016, SAHA brought an application before the Johannesburg High Court for the release of the records. The case was heard in August 2017. Judge Elias Matojane dismissed SAHA’s application and made a cost order totalling R2.7-million against the organisation.

Read more here

Set the Apartheid Secrets Free! – Statement in solidarity with SAHA

We, the undersigned organisations and individuals committed to justice for historical crimes and social justice in South Africa write in support of the South African History Archive. On Tuesday 03 March 2020 it faces the next round in an epic battle against the South African Reserve Bank in the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeal. This case (see more details on SAHA’s website and this New Frame article) is fundamentally important to the work of civil society in South Africa and involves central questions related to the unfinished business of justice for apartheid era economic crimes. SAHA”s appeal – led by Lawyers for Human rights and Advocate Geoff Budlender – against a court ruling made by the South Gauteng High Court is vital to understanding our past and continued efforts for social justice for the following reasons:

1. Challenging impunity: By denying access to records of its own investigations into alleged economic crimes during apartheid the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is protecting the interests of a small group of men, some of whom have been implicated in serious economic crimes and human rights abuses. These include ‘Dr Death’ – Wouter Basson (the architect of the apartheid chemical and biological weapons programme), convicted mafia boss Vito Palazzolo. See the full list here.

2. Demanding access to information: The South African Reserve Bank should not act as if laws such as the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), do not apply to it. The refusal access to information was without a reasoned basis. The free flow of information is the lifeblood of our hard won democracy. The SARB and its governor should act with integrity and ensure the release of these records and not protect the powerful (including many linked to significant acts of criminality) at all cost.

3. The chilling effect: In finding against SAHA the South Gauteng High Court has reversed long standing practice (established in the Biowatch case) by ordering SAHA to pay the SARB’s legal fees. The amount is significant (R2.7 million) and will serve to not only potentially bankrupt SAHA but send a chilling effect to all civil society organisations which are unlikely to take the State to court in future to gain access to records that are in the public interest.
This struggle is in the interest of all South Africans and deserves our support. We call on the Governor of the SARB to do the right thing: release the records, withdraw the request for cost payments by SAHA and show that you are invested in our constitutional right to access information and serve the public interest.

Issued by:
Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
Ahmed Timol Foundation
Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC)
Biowatch
Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC)
Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS)
Centre for Change
Centre for Environmental Rights (CER)
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
Corruption Watch
Equal Education Law Centre (EELC)
Foundation for Human Rights
Human Rights Media Centre
Imam Haron Foundation
Khulumani Support Group
Legal Resources Centre (LRC)
My Vote Counts (MVC)
Neil Aggett Support Group
Open Secrets
Organisation for Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA)
Public Affairs Research Initiative (PARI)
Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM)
Right2Know Campaign
South African Faith Communities Environment Institute (SAFCEI)
Section 27

Yasmin Sooka (former TRC Commissioner)
Adv. Dumisa Ntsebeza (former TRC Commissioner)
Mary Burton (former TRC Commissioner)
Jill Aggett
Salim Essop
Gavin Anderson
Nicole Fritz
Gerald O’Sullivan

Apartheid criminals still at large

Ilham Rahoot |Mail & Guardian | 21 February 2020 |

The floor has been reopened.

The past two weeks’ furore over FW de Klerk’s denial and hasty withdrawal of his statement that “the system of apartheid is not a crime against humanity”, as well as the inquest into activist Neil Aggett’s murder in prison, have been a sharp reminder that not one of the democratically elected administrations has prosecuted anyone for the crime of apartheid.

And while the inquest into the violent death of Aggett and the murder case of fellow activist Ahmed Timol are a step forward, there are two other groups of apartheid criminals that remain seemingly untouchable — multinational banks and corporations.

Even after almost 20 years of civil society making several good attempts to hold banks and companies accountable, it seems the immediate post-apartheid legacy of not condemning impunity remains intact.

Beginning with the first legal action in 2002, known as the “apartheid litigation”, the issue has gone through a repeated cycle of expiry and resurrection — in the courts, public opinion and the media.

The apartheid litigation lawsuit, filed by the Khulumani Support Group in a United States district court and representing victims of human rights abuses under apartheid, sued 20 companies, including Daimler, IBM, Ford, ExxonMobil and JP Morgan. After several dismissals and subsequent appeals, the US courts finally dismissed the case in 2014.

These seemingly fruitless undertakings have left many wondering if any system actually exists that will bring these companies to justice, and who is being protected and why.

At this pivotal time it is worth going back to the most recent attempt at holding apartheid banks to account, which is still in progress.

In 2018, two South African organisations, Open Secrets and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Cals), tried to bring Belgian bank Kredietbank, now KBC, and its Luxembourg sister bank Kredietbank Luxembourg, now Quintet Private Bank, to justice for financially uplifting the apartheid regime.

The issue at hand is that Open Secrets obtained damning documentation from the South African and Belgian archives, which show that Kredietbank and Kredietbank Luxembourg were instrumental in facilitating covert payments by the apartheid government for them to make sanctions-busting international arms purchases and loans.

Read more here

Lifting the lid on apartheid-era economic crimes

Lloyd Gedye | New Frame | 21 February 2020 |

The South African History Archive’s battle with the South African Reserve Bank to access information pertaining to alleged financial crimes will go to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

What can the South African Reserve Bank’s archive of records tell South Africans about apartheid-era economic crime? The South African History Archive (Saha) intends to find out in round two of a legal battle with the Reserve Bank over access to apartheid-era records that could shine a light on alleged economic crimes committed in the 1980s and early 1990s.

The matter will be heard in early March this year at the Supreme Court of Appeal in what will be a key test of South Africa’s commitment to transparency, accountability and the right to freedom of access to information.

Saha’s appeal follows a 2018 judgment in the Johannesburg high court that went against the archive. Saha director Geraldine Frieslaar says the archive went to court in 2018 with “high hopes” as it was “expecting a favourable judgment”.

But Judge Elias Matojane not only ruled against Saha, he also slapped them with a R2.7 million cost order, which Frieslaar says has threatened the archive’s immediate future. Saha was left with no option but to appeal.

“We’re just trying to stay alive,” says Frieslaar. “This could sink Saha.”

Read more here

België weigert witwasconstructies KBC tijdens apartheid te onderzoeken

Stef Arends |

Orig jaar dienden twee Zuid-Afrikaanse ngo’s klacht in tegen KBC Groep. Die bank voerde grootschalige witwasoperaties uit ten tijde van het apartheidsregime, en zorgde daarmee dat een internationaal wapenembargo decennialang kon worden omzeild. Het OESO-contactpunt voor ethisch internationaal ondernemen weigert de klacht echter in behandeling te nemen. De apartheid zou te lang geleden zijn, en het zou ‘te moeilijk zijn voor KBC om de bewijzen te weerleggen’.

De Zuid-Afrikaanse ngo Open Secrets en het Centre for Applied Legal studies (CALS) van Wits University in Johannesburg, klaagden KBC Groep in april 2018 aan voor het schenden van de OESO-gedragsrichtlijn voor multinationals.

Kredietbank  -  nu KBC  -  waste tussen 1977 en 1994 namelijk miljarden dollars wit voor het Zuid-Afrikaanse apartheidsregime. De overleden Belgische topindustrieel André Vlerick speelde daarin een sleutelrol.

Een systeem van holdingmaatschappijen en honderden anonieme bankrekeningen stelde het regime in staat om overal ter wereld wapens te bestellen, zonder dat de transacties konden worden getraceerd. Zo kon het wapenembargo van de VN Veiligheidsraad omzeild worden.

Read more here

NGOs disappointed with decision not to probe apartheid banks

ENCA | JOHANNESBURG

Two NGO’s say they are disappointed with a decision not to investigate banks for allegedly supporting the apartheid government.

The Center for Applied Legal Studies and Open Secrets submitted a complaint about the role of European banks during apartheid.

Tumelo Matlawa from the centre for applied legal studies says they have evidence that the banks enabled a money-laundering scheme using shell companies to help the apartheid government buy weapons.

“Essentially we work to hold corporations accountable for human rights violations, apartheid is one of the biggest human rights violations in history,” Matlawa.

“We are trying to hold corporations that were complacent in this, benefited from this and profited from this.”

 

European Authorities Refuse to Investigate Apartheid’s Banks

MEDIA RELEASE

31 July 2019

EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES REFUSE TO INVESTIGATE APARTHEID’S BANKS

More than one year after submitting a complaint detailing the role of European banks in supporting and profiting from apartheid, CALS and Open Secrets have been informed that authorities in Belgium and Luxembourg are refusing to investigate these economic crimes. With no clear reason for their refusal to engage with our complaint, and after providing a response nine months late, we are forced to question the independence and effectiveness of these mechanisms.

Open Secrets and the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) share a common goal of holding businesses accountable for their complicity in crimes against humanity. We believe that those who support and profit from the human rights abuses perpetrated under unjust systems like apartheid should be brought to justice and held accountable for their crimes.

Because of this, in April 2018, CALS and Open Secrets laid a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or OECD. The OECD is one of the only mechanisms available worldwide for holding businesses accountable for their roles in human rights abuses. Member countries around the world have national contact points which are intended to ensure multi-national corporations based in their countries comply with the business operations and accountability standards in the OECD’s Guidelines – and to investigate when they do not.

Our complaint provided detailed evidence gathered by Open Secrets, including opinions from leading experts in the financial sector, against two European banks responsible for sustaining and strengthening the system of apartheid. Belgium’s Kredietbank (now known as KBC Group) and its sister bank in Luxembourg (now known as KBL) are responsible for facilitating ilicit money flows that allowed the apartheid regime to secretly buy weapons despite mandatory arms sanctions introduced by the United Nations in the 1970s and 1980s.

These weapons were essential in enabling domestic repression, the apartheid state’s wars and attempts to destablise other governments and liberation movements in southern Africa. Not only was the banks’ assistance vital to keeping the apartheid government in power, but they also profited from these transactions – building their companies on the suffering of millions of people. Apartheid was not only evil in practice, but has been declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations.

The OECD’s national contact points in Belgium and Luxembourg have, however, shown little interest in these crimes. Despite their rules and procedures stating that they should respond within three months as to whether or not they would investigate the banks’ conduct, they took over a year.

The process was also undermined by a conflict of interest that was dealt with in a manner contrary to the OECD’s own guidelines, as well as the OECD Secretary General’s recommendations. The conflict of interest arose because the Belgian contact point’s committee which was deciding whether or not the complaint would be heard, included business federations with senior representatives from KBC. In other words, KBC was on the committee deciding whether or not a complaint against them would be investigated. When CALS and Open Secrets exposed this serious conflict of interest within the Belgian contact point, nothing was done to address it.

We have now received final reports from both contact points which, unsurprisingly, decline to investigate the complaint. Neither response has engaged meaningfully with the evidence presented to them, the conflict of interest that they were alerted to, or our extensive and detailed response urging them to consider our evidence or expert opinions. In addition, the national contact points chose to disregard the amicus submission by UN Independent Expert, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, who emphasised that the banks may be guilty of crimes under international law.

We have today written to the Secretary General of the OECD in Paris again about the conduct of the contact points and their refusal to follow their own guidelines. We fear that the refusal by authorities in Belgium to deal with the conflict of interest threatens public trust in the process and suggests poor governance standards that could enable the cover up of human rights violations. We are committed to holding the banks, and the OECD, accountable for their actions. More broadly, we will continue to advocate for the redress of economic crimes in our work by incorporating what we have learnt through this experience.

“We remain deeply concerned about the flaws that have been exposed in this process. If the OECD is one of the only mechanisms in the world for holding businesses accountable for human rights violations, we may as well say there is no mechanism in place. This is exactly why we need a binding instrument governing business practices internationally,” says Tumelo Matlwa.

“There is no good reason for such a point blank refusal to acknowledge the banks’ conduct merits further investigation. Given the insistence on defending the corporations and ignoring the conflict of interest, the only logical conclusion to draw is that the OECD is compromised. The action of the OECD has favoured powerful banks and seeks to silence evidence of the human rights abuses they are implicated in,” says Tabitha Paine.

OECD Watch, a global network of civil society organisations, has also expressed its disappointment with this process. “Stakeholder confidence is the one of the most important measures of an NCP’s effectiveness. We are deeply disappointed that civil society’s concerns over conflicts of interest in this case have not been satisfactorily addressed. We continue to believe strongly that NCPs must be structured as independent offices or with representation of all stakeholder groups in their governance. Similarly, we urge NCPs currently lacking a procedural appeal process to establish one to enable redress of procedural problems in NCPs’ handling of cases,” says Marian Ingrams.

ABOUT OPEN SECRETS

Open Secrets is an independent non-profit with a mission to promote private sector accountability for economic crime and related human rights violations in Southern Africa. Our vision is to promote the right to truth and contribute towards social justice by using research, advocacy and litigation to hold powerful private actors to account for violations of human rights. Read more about our work at https://www.opensecrets.org.za/.

ABOUT CALS

The Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) is a public interest law organisation based at the School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand. Founded in 1978 by Professor John Dugard, CALS continues to use a combination of research, advocacy and litigation to advance human rights and social justice. Read more about our work at https://www.wits.ac.za/cals/.

Thales, the company which forever sullied the memory of the wise sage of Greece

Greg Nicolson | Daily Maverick

Arms company Thales, accused of bribing former president Jacob Zuma, argued on Tuesday that the charges against it are invalid and must be set aside.

In Apartheid, Guns and Money: A Tale of Profit, Hennie van Vuuren describes the relationship between French arms company Thomson-CSF and the apartheid government. The state needed weapons to maintain white rule and the company was happy to breach international sanctions to turn a profit.

“This long-term relationship with the apartheid regime did not preclude Thomson-CSF from quickly doing business with a democratic government in South Africa,” reads the report from the People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime, which includes some of Van Vuuren’s work with Open Secrets.

In 2005, Judge Hillary Squires found that Thomson-CSF had agreed to pay Jacob Zuma R500,000 a year through proxies to protect the company from investigations into the R2.6-billion contract it won in the multibillion-rand arms deal and promote its business interests in South Africa. Squires convicted Zuma’s former financial adviser Schabir Shaik for corruption for his role as a middleman.

After marathon legal battles, Zuma and the French arms company, now called Thales, were charged in 2018 but are still fighting to avoid trial, with the Pietermaritzburg High Court currently hearing stay-of-prosecution applications from both Zuma and Thales.

Read full article here

Media Statement: Apartheid’s Banks No Closer to Facing Justice

One year after CALS and Open Secrets brought to light evidence that European banks profited from apartheid, no decision has been made on whether to investigate

It has been one year since CALS and Open Secrets brought to light evidence that European banks collaborated with the apartheid government and profited from one of the worst crimes against humanity in world history. We have yet to receive a decision on whether these banks will face investigation.

For nearly two decades, evidence suggests, Belgium’s Kredietbank (now known as KBC Group) and its sister bank in Luxembourg played a vital role in supporting and strengthening the system of apartheid in South Africa. Together, they were responsible for facilitating illegal transactions that allowed the apartheid regime to secretly buy weapons and continue its rule through violence – despite mandatory arms sanctions introduced by the United Nations in the 1970s. These banks have never been held accountable for their involvement in a global money-laundering scheme that effectively sustained apartheid and turned a profit from gross human rights violations.

In April last year, CALS and Open Secrets launched a complaint to try to change that. Using evidence of economic crimes uncovered over years of research, we presented a detailed complaint against the KBC Group and Kredietbank Luxembourg (KBL) to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD is one of the few international mechanisms available to hold businesses accountable for human rights abuses, with national contact points in member countries worldwide.

On the eve of South Africa’s annual commemoration of freedom on 24 April 2018, representatives from our organisations delivered the complaint in person to the contact points in Belgium and Luxembourg. Our complaint was supported by a UN Independent Expert, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, who also emphasised that the banks may be guilty of crimes under international law. The contact points were initially meant to respond within three months with a decision on whether or not they would investigate the banks’ conduct as outlined in the complaint. After a number of postponements, the contact points assured us that a decision would finally be made by 31 March 2019. To date, we have received no such decision.

Over and above this excessive delay, we have also exposed serious conflicts of interest within the composition of Belgian contact point members. Two business federations involved in deciding whether or not to proceed with an investigation against KBC Group, in fact have representatives from the bank in the federations. These members can therefore not possibly make an impartial decision in the process, as they have a clear and direct interest in dismissing the complaint – a conflict which goes against the OECD’s own Guidelines. Though we brought this to the attention of the contact points and the OECD General Secretary as early as June 2018, nothing has been done to resolve the situation and, perhaps as a result of this, the delays have only continued. Indeed, the decision, the complaint process and the Belgian contact point are all tainted as a result.

CALS and Open Secrets have given the contact points until 26 April 2019, the anniversary of the complaint’s submission, to come to a decision about the investigation and to address our concerns about the conflict of interest within the Belgian contact point.

“The bar here is very low,” says Tumelo Matlwa, attorney at CALS. “All the contact points are being asked to do is decide whether to investigate further based on the main facts of the case. What could have reasonably stalled such a decision if not a conflict of interest? A year-long process is excessive and creates the unavoidable impression that our complaint is not being taken seriously.”

“The message is clear,” says Hennie van Vuuren, Director at Open Secrets. “Corporations have nothing to fear. We cannot allow this to continue. We cannot allow corruption and delay tactics to prevent corporations from being held to account for their actions, for contributing to the suffering of millions living under apartheid and continuing to deal with its legacy of poverty and inequality to this day.”

Read the full complaint to the OECD here or find out more about it here.

For inquiries, please contact:

Tabitha Paine, Legal Researcher, on 021 447 2701 / 076 118 1332 or at tpaine@opensecrets.org.za

Tumelo Matlwa, Attorney, on 011 717 8616 / 082 236 9058 or at tumelo.matlwa@wits.ac.za  

Bank at heart of Gambian tyranny

Hennie van Vuuren | Khadija Sharife | Mark Anderson

Yahya Jammeh once said he would rule the Gambia for “one billion years”. His rule proved somewhat shorter — he lost the presidential elections in 2017 after 22 years in power.

Since then, a massive clean-up of Gambian institutions has begun. But the cost of his rule has been dear.
It will be generations before Gambians can fully recover.  His was a dictatorship, in which the currency of power was his alone, but the profiteering was happily assisted by an assortment of nefarious characters.

Through the army, led by General Sulayman Badjie and Jammeh’s own private mercenaries, the Jungulars, he ruled by torturing and imprisoning political opponents and human rights activists, murdering journalists and depriving and dispossessing citizens of their right to exist.

This week, a six-month investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), titled Gambia’s Great Heist, has revealed how, with the aid of people like an alleged Hezbollah financier Mohammed Bazzi, at least $1-billion was siphoned from the country.

But buried within the thousands of documents obtained by the project documenting Jammeh’s 22-year rule lies another integral but hidden roleplayer: Western bankers.

Read more here

Auditor General drawn into Armscor’s R8bn covert-deal battle

Jessica Bezuidenhout | The Daily Maverick | 18 January 2019

An international arms trader, in relentless pursuit of alleged unpaid commission going back to the 1980s, now wants the Auditor General of South Africa to release apartheid-era records to boost his civil claim against the state arms procurement agency in Portugal.

The Auditor General of South Africa faces a High Court application to produce records relating to Armscor’s controversial acquisition of 50 Puma helicopters from a French armaments company more than 30 years ago.

This apartheid-era transaction has haunted the state-owned entity for decades – it is highly contentious, having been billed as an unlawful, sanctions-busting deal by the current Armscor in its fight-back against an R8-billion civil claim in Portugal.

Details of the covert deal are meticulously presented in Apartheid Guns and Money: A tale of Profit, the 2017 book by Open Secrets director, Hennie van Vuuren, whose organisation subsequently exposed alleged efforts to lobby former President Jacob Zuma for political assistance in 2010.

Now, Jorge Pinhol, the Portuguese arms trader who says he facilitated the deal before allegedly being duped out of his commission, wants access to confidential South African government records via the Auditor-General having had no luck with soft approaches for assistance over a two-year period

 

Read the full article here

A message to Armscor: Come clean about apartheid secrets and help save R8bn

A large shipment of 50 ‘Super Puma’ helicopter ‘kits’, sent to South Africa from French arms company Aerospatiale via Portugal, was typical of apartheid-era covert sanctions-busting deals. Now that news has broken that a Portuguese arms trader wants his R8bn commission for the deal, isn’t it about time to free the apartheid archive, open the window into a sordid and criminal past and help dismantle the shadowy networks that facilitate international economic crimes?

Last week news broke that a Portuguese arms trader who helped the apartheid regime violate United Nations weapons sanctions has approached South Africa’s courts as part of his strategy to claim commission on the deal. Jorge Pinhol wants a staggering R8-billion ($600-million) from state-owned arms company Armscor. He claims this is the value of the 10% commission that Armscor allegedly failed to pay him for facilitating a covert deal to procure helicopters for the South African Air Force in the late 1980s.

The application in the Pretoria High Court by Pinhol’s company Beverly Securities Limited (BSL) seeks to compel the Auditor-General to disclose apartheid-era records that Pinhol’s international lawyers allege provide evidence of Armscor’s agreement to pay Pinhol for the illicit deal.

It is just the latest in a range of tactics used by Pinhol’s expensive legal team, funded by billionaire Canadian John Risley.

Read the full article here

How apartheid poisoned the world

Peter Hain | The Spectator | 15 December 2018

Most people would claim to abhor apartheid, but London, Washington, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Buenos Aires and Tel Aviv were all in on the act.

Around 1970 I was labelled ‘Public Enemy No. 1’ by white South Africa’s newspapers for leading militant anti-apartheid protests which stopped all-white sports tours to Britain. And a year ago when, under parliamentary privilege in the House of Lords, I exposed looting, corruption and money-laundering by former President Zuma and his cronies the Gupta brothers, some jaundiced white South Africans again attacked me — this time for having helped deliver ‘corrupt black majority rule’.
They should read Hennie van Vuuren’s fine book, which tellingly concludes:

The current struggle against [Jacob Zuma-inspired] corruption in South Africa is undermined by a basic lack of appreciation of the nature of that corruption and the criminal networks that facilitate it — namely, that they are continuities of a profoundly corrupt system that predates the first democratic election [of Mandela].

In other words, Zuma and friends merely continued where the apartheid state had left off.

Van Vuuren’s monumental work is a gripping story of conspiracy, assassination, bribery and two-faced global dishonesty from London to Washington, from Paris to Pretoria, from Moscow to Beijing, from Buenos Aires to Tel Aviv.

Read more.

SABC News – Morning Live

graphics

this book is accompanied by a series of graphics, the treasure maps that help explain much of the content of the book. they were designed by Gaelen Pinnock of Scarlet Studios. kindly attribute the publication if posted elsewhere.

taking action

we believe in research that leads to action. our investigations are therefore closely linked to our law and advocacy work, so that we can hold private sector actors and institutions accountable for the economic crimes we uncover.