Johannesburg - Katerina Krejcirova, wife of Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir, on Monday denied that she and her family had several false passports.
“I arrived in this country using my Seychelles passport,” she told the Palm Ridge Regional Court in Alberton.
“I travelled to Mauritius with my two sons, Daniel and Dennis, using that passport.”
Prosecutor Louis Mashiane asked Krejcirova why her surname differed from that of her husband, but was not reflected as such in her ID book.
She said when she arrived in the country in 2007 she explained to officials when she applied for an ID that the suffix “ova” had to be added, but was told that was not how things were done in the country.
Czech women typically take their husband's surname when they marry and add the suffix “ova”, which means “belong to the family of”.
“I left the Krejcir name as it is because I gave up after trying to rectify it twice,” she said.
Krejcir and his co-accused Desai Luphondo, and Hawks warrant officers Samuel Modise Maropeng and George Jeff Nthoroane were applying for bail. They were arrested last month and face charges of assault, kidnapping and attempted murder.
Mashiane told Krejcirova on Monday that according to her Czech passport her name was Matilda Savi. She denied this. Krejcir also carried the names Julius Egbet Savi on his passport when he first arrived in the country, Mashiane said.
When Krejcir opposed his extradition application in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court, he indicated in his affidavit that he had arranged false passports for his wife and one son, Mashiane added.
Krejcirova said she did not know anything about that. She said she and her husband married in the Czech Republic in 1990.
She and her two sons flew directly to Mauritius on November 21, and did not fly to Nigeria as stated by Mashiane earlier, she told the court.
The bail hearing continues.
Sapa