'The whites own everything'
2010-10-31 09:53
Julian Rademeyer, Rapport
Johannesburg - ANC heavyweight Tony Yengeni, who
served a prison service for fraud, has again broken the law – and may be
heading for jail again.
Sunday
newspaper Rapport investigated Yengeni – or the so-called Gucci socialist's
activities - and revealed that: (1) Yengeni
broke the Companies Act by accepting director positions at six companies; (2) Two
of the companies of which he was a director have been awarded potentially
profitable prospecting rights for minerals and (3) Yengeni
still maintains an expensive lifestyle, with three flashy cars, one of which is
a 2009 Maserati Gran Turismo, costing about R1.75m.
The Companies
Act specifies that anyone who has served a prison sentence for fraud or
dishonesty without the option of a fine is automatically barred from being the
director of a company.
A person
could approach the high court to have the stipulation set aside, however.
When asked to
comment on these claims, Yengeni was defiant. He said: "What does the high
court have to do with my life?...I don't have to ask the court's permission to
go on with my life," he answered.
When asked
how he could afford his three luxury cars, he said: "It's none of your
business. How many cars I drive is a private matter. It isn't a public matter.
This country has many other residents who have not only cars, but also planes
and helicopter…Especially the whites have all the wealth and own
everything." Yengeni said: "I
don't understand your interest in what I drive."
According to documents, Yengeni became the director of six companies between
February 2005 and November 2008.
In two cases,
he was appointed director while he was on bail pending his appeal against his
fraud case. He accepted director positions for four other companies within two
years after he was released from prison.
Click here for a timeline of Tony Yengeni's brush with the law in recent years.