Johannesburg - A Joburg chartered accountant has finally been interdicted from making defamatory statements against Absa Bank, the Barclays Africa Group and an array of its officials.
He and his identical twin brother, a former test pilot for US Boeing, may no longer harass these officials, who include Absa chief executive Maria Ramos, and 28 other applicants who obtained an interim court order against Barry Keyter last year, preventing him from badmouthing the banks and the senior officials.
As Barry Keyter was provisionally gagged from going after these officials, his twin Anthony took over his brother’s campaign.
Anthony, said to hold a Master’s degree in physics and space science from the University of Houston, was declared a vexatious litigant in the US.
Judge Jan Hiemstra of the high court in Pretoria was told that this was after he instituted about 1.6 million different criminal cases and lawsuits in America against a number of people ranging from former President George W Bush and former vice-president Dick Cheney, to the Boeing company, for which he once worked.
It emerged that the brothers have laid several criminal charges in South Africa against several highly-placed government officials, the government itself, judges and others.
But Judge Hiemstra put a stop to this,on Friday issuing a final interdict against Barry, in terms of which he may no longer level any kind of accusations against the banks and officials.
He slapped Barry with a six-month jail term, suspended for five years provided that he apologised to these officials.
Also, that he withdrew all accusations levelled against them. Barry handed a letter up to the court, apologising as ordered.
The judge also included Anthony in another order in which he interdicted both twins from laying any new criminal charges against officials, or reporting new complaints to various government bodies.
Barry was held in contempt of court for ignoring the interim order issued last year, provisionally gagging him from badmouthing the applicants. The court found that by calling in his brother to take over his crusade, he contravened the order.
The judge said he not only continued with his campaign, but he intensified it.
The problems between Barry and the banking giants started a few years ago when a property deal went sour and Barry had to incur certain costs.
According to the banks, this was caused by a “misunderstanding” between him and a bank official.
But the unhappy Barry embarked on a campaign following his “raw deal” which eventually culminated in him laying hundreds of complaints against a host of officials.
He also produced a “dossier of crimes” comprising 112 pages. In it, Barry alleged the applicants and others were part of an international crime network.
Judge Hiemstra was earlier told by counsel acting for Absa that “the Keyter brothers have launched the most extraordinary and unbridled campaign against anyone they consider to stand in their paths - from boards of directors to the police and even to judges”.
It emerged that they even wrote to Judge President Dunstan Mlambo and Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba, making “scandalous” allegations against them and other Pretoria judges.
Pretoria News