Arms activist wants R5m
2008-06-26 21:11
Cape Town - Arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne is claiming R5m from Finance Minister Trevor Manuel in compensation for expenses incurred in fighting the multi-billion rand deal.
The demand is the latest salvo in a battle between the two men that has run over several years.
It is made in papers Crawford-Browne said he filed on Thursday in the Cape High Court, where Manuel is currently pursuing an application to permanently gag Crawford-Browne from accusing him of arms deal corruption.
Manuel also wants Crawford-Browne declared a vexatious litigant.
In a "notice of motion for dismissal, plea and counterclaims", Crawford-Browne said his involvement in the arms deal stemmed from his appointment by Archibishop Njongonkulu Ndungane to represent the Anglican church in the 1996-98 Defence Review.
'In the public interest'
"I did so voluntarily without remuneration and in the public interest, but I took my responsibilities seriously when grave allegations and evidence of corruption emerged," he said in the papers.
He said he had now spent an estimated R5m of his own funds in "exposing the arms deal scandal".
"Accordingly, I now institute a claim against the plaintiff for reimbursement of R5m plus interest calculated from 23 August 1999, being the date on which Archbishop Ndungane called for a full and public judicial investigation into the arms deal."
Manuel earlier this year won a temporary gagging order against Crawford-Browne.
In 2005 he failed in a bid to sequestrate Crawford-Browne when the former banker said he had no assets except a rusty Fiat Uno.
- SAPA