Embattled Krejcir faces more legal woes

Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir is seen during an appearance in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court on Monday, 24 February 2014 where he once again applied for bail. Krejcir, Siboniso Miya, Sandton businessman Desai Luphondo, and three members of the Hawks -- Samuel Modise Maropeng, George Jeff Nthoroane and Ian Jan Mofokeng -- were arrested for the kidnapping and attempted murder of an East Rand man.Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir is seen during an appearance in the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court on Monday, 24 February 2014 where he once again applied for bail. Krejcir, Siboniso Miya, Sandton businessman Desai Luphondo, and three members of the Hawks -- Samuel Modise Maropeng, George Jeff Nthoroane and Ian Jan Mofokeng -- were arrested for the kidnapping and attempted murder of an East Rand man.Picture: Werner Beukes/SAPA

Published Apr 2, 2014

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Johannesburg - Radovan Krejcir’s legal costs are rising this week, with three applications at two high courts, one of which has already failed and cost him a large sum of cash.

Two of the applications are focused on getting him out of isolation in prison.

On Tuesday, Krejcir’s legal team applied to have large portions of the South African Revenue Service case against him deemed inadmissible, trying to prevent a preservation order that would allow the taxman to seize all assets even tangentially linked to him.

The order’s founding affidavit by Sars group executive in charge of enforcement investigations, Johann van Loggerenberg, lists numerous details on Krejcir’s past crimes and background that could prove damning in both the criminal and civil cases against him.

Krejcir’s lawyer, Annelene van den Heever, told the Pretoria High Court that Sars had created this statement based on hearsay and unreliable evidence, and had also illegally published details that were revealed in Krejcir’s refugee board application to gain asylum in South Africa.

Krejcir is applying for refugee status following alleged persecution in the Czech Republic.

But Van Loggerenberg’s report reveals that the asylum application was handed over to Sars, which Van den Heever argued was illegal. In addition, she said the fact that Krejcir’s finances had been disclosed in court – and Van Loggerenberg’s report – violated the Tax Administration Act.

She also argued that Krejcir’s character and actions in the Czech Republic had no bearing on Sars’s case against him now. Van den Heever said that being questioned on these allegations under oath could incriminate him in the criminal case against him.

But Sars’s lawyer, Nick Maritz, argued that Krejcir’s background was the core of the case against him.

The court ruled against Krejcir, saying an application to remove such key facts was premature, and even frivolous.

Krejcir was ordered to pay the costs of Sars’s attorneys.

On May 22, the preservation order will be argued in court, to allow Sars to seize assets belonging – in name – to all of Krejcir’s associates, including assets allegedly linked to Glenn Agliotti. These assets would then be sold to cover Krejcir’s back-taxes.

Van Loggerenberg’s affidavit also plays a key factor in Krejcir’s new attempts to receive bail for the criminal case against him at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court. Krejcir was arrested in November on attempted murder and kidnapping charges, along with four others, including three Hawks investigators, who allegedly assisted in the plot.

Judgment was reserved.

 

And in a third application, set for Friday, The Star has learnt that Krejcir will be applying at the Pretoria High Court for a transfer from his prison cell in Pretoria to a medical facility.

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The Star

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