The Scorpions did not have a legislative mandate to probe foreign exchange offences, the Cape High Court was told on Tuesday.
The court is hearing an application against the unit by Cape Town businessman Gary van der Merwe, who was arrested at Cape Town International Airport in 2004 as he tried to take just about R1-million out of the country.
Though the arrest was carried out by a border control policeman, Van der Merwe said in court papers that the Scorpions were actually behind the arrest, and that they had been driving the investigation against him.
He said this was outside the unit's legislative and operational mandate of dealing with national priority crimes, and asked for an interim order to that effect.
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He also asked the court to declare the foreign exchange charge, and another of defeating the ends of justice, unlawful and unconstitutional.
Van der Merwe said senior Scorpions investigator Phillip Haywood had been pursuing an "unmandated, over-zealous investigation against me".
He said virtually every postponement in the case since his arrest had been handled by Scorpions prosecutors, rather than staff of the provincial directorate of public prosecutions.
Among the court papers on Tuesday was a letter from Western Cape director of prosecutions Rodney de Kock dated last week, saying that he had decided "solely in the interests of justice" to appoint a member of his staff to conduct the prosecution in future, rather than the Scorpions.
In replying papers, Haywood said his role in the forex case had been "limited to co-operating with other law enforcement agencies by providing them with information and assisting them by identifying [Van der Merwe] to [a] SARS (Custom) official. My contribution to the forex case was certainly not conducting an investigation".
Argument in the matter continues on Wednesday.
The Scorpions are also investigating separate allegations of fraud, theft and contraventions of the Companies Act against Van der Merwe.
He was arrested in that matter in October 2004.
He is out on bail. - Sapa
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