Soldier fined for Iraq work
2005-04-26 08:43
Erika Gibson
Pretoria - A senior defence force officer, who was taken to court by his employer because he moonlighted in Iraq for four months, was found guilty on two charges on Monday and sentenced to pay a R2 000 fine.
It appears as though this is the first instance where a soldier has been found guilty of not informing the defence force that he was planning to travel overseas.
Lieutenant Colonel Gus Maartens, of 43 SA Brigade, was accused last year, among others, of fraud, absence without leave and that he neglected to inform defence information, formerly military information, of intending to travel overseas.
The fraud charge and one of earning a second salary without permission while in the service of the defence force had to be withdrawn as the two main witnesses could not attend court.
Maartens was accused of, after applying for long leave and the leave being granted, going to work in Iraq.
At that time he had more than 300 days accumulated leave and his application for a voluntary severance package had been recommended.
He had to take leave when the granting of severance packages was postponed.
At a later stage he applied to have his long leave extended and it was approved initially.
By the time the decision was made that his application could not be granted, he could not return from Iraq in time.
He was absent without leave for 20 days and will also forfeit his salary for that period.
Check out travel arrangements
The leave policy of the defence force was changed last year after it became known that soldiers used their long leave to work in Iraq. A new rule was made making it compulsory for soldiers to declare when they were going overseas, even for holiday purposes.
This regulation was not applied previously although the soldier had a duty to inform his employer.
The purpose of the regulation was mainly to protect soldiers against the possibility that they could, for no reason, be under suspicion of spying activities, as well as the requirement to inform South African overseas embassies of their presence in a foreign country.
It has been heard that the defence force now investigates the facts of such overseas travel before approval is given.
Colonel Frances Botha, senior military judge, said in her judgment on Monday that Maartens, as a senior officer, had to set an example to others.
The court also has to give a message to other soldiers not to commit similar offences.
The judge found there were mitigating circumstances as Maartens had committed no other offences in his 32 years of military service and that he had been given a merit assessment of higher than 75% in the past eight years.
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- Beeld