Alister Bull
A Zimbabwean businessman and senior figure in the Congolese state mining company Gecamines on Thursday denied allegations linking him to the murder of a top South Korean businessman and said he was the victim of a campaign to blacken his name.
"I wish to place on record my most emphatic denial of any link whatsoever with the tragic murder of Mr Yong Koo Kwon," Billy Rautenbach said in a statement sent to SA media.
Rautenbach was responding to a sworn affidavit presented to the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday by senior South African Justice Department lawyer Thembakazi Burhali stating he had an "alleged involvement in the murder of the General Manager of Daewoo Motor Corp".
Kwon was found shot dead in his car in Johannesburg before dawn on February 3, in what was presumed to be a vehicle hijacking gone wrong.
The killing made international headlines and was seen as a new example of South Africa's crisis of violent crime.
South African police told Radio 702 on Wednesday that Rautenbach had not been brought to their attention as a possible suspect in the killing.
Rautenbach threatened to sue South Africa's public prosecutor "as well as all and any other parties responsible for this witch-hunt designed to ruin me, my family and my businesses".
The businessman is regarded by regional analysts as an important link between Democratic Republic of the Congo President Laurent Kabila and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who has sent troops to Kinshasa's aid in its 15-month-long civil war.
He was made chairperson of Gecamines in November 1998 and given the task of restructuring the embattled state-owned cobalt and copper mining company.
Kabila removed him from the post last month, but a Gecamines source has said Rautenbach is still chief executive.
Rautenbach's company, Wheels of Africa, acts as an agent for Hyundai Motor Corp and Volvo AB in South Africa and also operates a manufacturing plant in neighbouring Botswana.
The allegations, contained in court documents lodged by South African prosecutors, also include gun running, insurance fraud and tax evasion.
They were stated in court on Tuesday during the state's defence of a November search of Rautenbach's premises.
South African investigators said on November 18 that they had searched Rautenbach's home and office in connection with various allegations of theft and fraud.
Rautenbach wants the court to "set aside" the searches and subsequent seizure of documents.
A judge is expected to rule next week on whether the state's action was justified. - Reuters