Johannesburg - Loopholes, bureaucracy and sloppy police are ingredients for disaster. They're also the recipe for an escape plan if you're skipping the country.
They're what personal injury lawyers Ronald and Darren Bobroff exploited when they left South Africa undetected at the end of March.
Read: Bobroff's firm placed under curatorship
This while the father and son still face fraud claims against them and a Hawks investigation relating to inflated claims they were making to the Road Accident Fund from as far back as 2011.
To bring back the fugitive pair to the country now would likely be a drawn-out legal process that costs taxpayers dearly, according to Jacques Meyer, former head of the extradition desk for Interpol in South Africa.
Read: Bobroff lawyers flee, Hawks nab wife
Though Meyer is now working in the private sector, he was part of the team who successfully managed to extradite Shrien Dewani from the UK and George Louca from Cyprus.
Dewani was accused of plotting the murder of his wife while they were on honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010.
The Briton’s extradition took four years to complete. The private jet chartered for Dewani, who claimed at the time to be “suicidal”, cost a whopping R2.9 million.
In the case of Louca, who was linked to the killing of strip-club boss Lolly Jackson, the extradition took two years to complete - this after he had already evaded Cypriot authorities for two years after fleeing South Africa.
Louca’s case cost taxpayers R500 000.
“In the Louca case it cost R500 000 just for things like airplane tickets, hotels and other logistical costs. That doesn't even cover the cost of man hours,” says Meyer.
Meyer points the finger at multiple collapses in the system that allow for people not in police custody, but wanted for questioning and investigation, to flee the country. He adds that even when they are caught in the countries they're hiding out in, those with deep pockets can exploit bureaucracy and slow legal processes to stall extradition efforts.
The Bobroffs are also not the only fugitives or wanted people hiding from the law in Australia. Others include Barry Tannenbaum, the pharmaceutical Ponzi scheme mastermind who created a pyramid scheme said to be South Africa's largest at R12.5bn.
Tannenbaum was last reported to be an Uber taxi driver in Australia.
Another man wanted for questioning by South African authorities is John Stratton. The 83-year-old former associate of slain mining magnate Brett Kebble was said to be a co-conspirator in the murder of Kebble in September of 2005.
He continues to deny involvement in the killing but has also dodged South African investigators.
“In theory, the Bobroffs should have been placed on Interpol's red list as soon as they were charged,” says Meyer.
He says this probably didn't happen because police investigators work in silos, not communicating effectively with each other or with Interpol.
To begin with, accused individuals should be properly assessed as flight risks. Their details should then be handed over to Interpol so their names can be placed on Interpol's so-called “red list”.
“It is a lack of awareness about what Interpol actually does, even if South Africa is one of 190 member countries of Interpol,” says Meyer.
He adds too that there is no integrated, seamless system between departments and structures, creating a distinct loophole for would-be fugitives.
In South Africa, the Interpol office falls under the Hawks. But Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, spokesman for the Hawks, did not respond to Saturday Star’s questions about how the Bobroffs slipped through their hands and what efforts are under way to close the glaring gaps that exist in the police.
Saturday Star
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