Court: Krion trial will proceed

2008-11-24 19:25

Pretoria - The criminal trial of the alleged masterminds behind the Krion pyramid scheme should proceed, the Pretoria High Court ruled on Monday.

Judge President Bernard Ngoepe said an application by one of the accused, Willem Pelser, to permanently stay their prosecution was "ill-conceived".

It was an abuse of the court process and an attempt aimed at delaying the criminal trial, he said.

Pelser alleged adverse findings in various civil courts and the income tax court had branded them as "fraudsters and swindlers".

He insisted their right to a fair trial, to be presumed innocent, remain silent and not to testify in their criminal trial had been violated by the opinions expressed in the civil judgments.

The State opposed the application, saying the standard of proof in criminal trials was higher than in civil trials and Pelser's submissions would lead to absurdities.

The trial judge would be aware that the State would still have to prove the facts required for the criminal conviction, despite the judgments in the civil matters, prosecutor David Broughton argued.

Ngoepe said an accused could not apply for a permanent stay of prosecution on the ground that he was likely to be prejudiced by external factors, such as pronouncements in civil matters.

"Such an argument assumes that the trial court will commit an irregularity by allowing itself to be unduly influenced by those factors," he said.

"The trial should be allowed to proceed."

Ngoepe ruled that Pelser's counsel was not entitled to the payment of any fees in connection with the "baseless" application, especially where his fees were paid by the Legal Aid Board.

Pelser, Marietjie and Herbert Prinsloo, Maria and Gerrit Lemstra and Izabel and Hendrik Engelbrecht are to appear in the High Court again on December 8 in connection with 218 683 charges.

These include racketeering, money laundering, tax fraud, operating the business of a bank without being registered, contravening the Banks Act, the Harmful Business Practice Act and the Companies Act, as well as fraud and theft.

The seven accused, who were arrested more than six years ago, are all out on bail. They have not yet pleaded to the charges against them.

- SAPA