The arrest and pending indictment on charges of fraud of controversial businessman Sandi Majali can be described as the nemesis of a buccaneer capitalist.

Though Majali, who transferred R11-million to the ruling African National Congress about four months before the April 2004 general election even though the money was not his to donate, sees himself as the innocent victim of a mistaken accusation.

Majali's arrest last Friday was the sequel to a hearing in the Johannesburg High Court in which the founders of Kalahari Sands, a multi-billion rand mining company; complained that Majali and seven purported accomplices had hijacked the company.

The applicants, Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, a widow, and her brother Colin Mashile, sought an order restoring them as directors of the company. Acting Judge Fayeza Kathree-Setiloane granted the application and ordered that Majali and his seven collaborators be removed from the board of directors.

Majali's arrest and later release on bail can be interpreted positively as a sign that the criminal justice system is beginning to operate under the constitutional injunction to proceed without  fear, favour or prejudice and that no one, no matter how well connected to the ruling party, will be exempted from investigation or, if justified, indictment on criminal charges.

Against that, however, it would have looked suspicious if the police sat on their hands after the judgement in the Johannesburg High Court, even allowing for the fact that the judgement related to a civil rather than a criminal case.

In a press statement issued three days after the Johannesburg High Court judgment in the civil case, Majali loudly proclaimed his innocence, insisting that he was not involved in any attempt to take over the company and that he he had been publicly branded as the ring leader of the alleged take-over.

"Correctly," he said, "an order granting the overturn of the unlawful action was granted by the court."

But that did not stop him from criticising Mashile-Nkosi for "failing to convene an annual general meeting of shareholders for the last two years." He furthermore accused her of failing to fulfil her fiduciary duties and of conducting herself "in a manner than compromises the company and its shareholders.""

Majali was equally critical of the Company Intellectual Property Rights Office (Cipro)  - which is charged with oversight of the administration of companies in South Africa - for not being present in court "to tender its "version of what transpired and how."

Majali described himself as "a law-abiding citizen and businessman" who has always acted and will continue to act "within the ambit of law." His self portrait was questionable as much of it is conspicuously at odds with his record over the past decade.

It is glaringly contradicted by his decision to transfer R11-million to the ANC about four months before South Africa's April 2004 election.

The R11-million was part of a R15-million advance made available to Majali by the state-owned corporation, PetroSA, to pay for an assignment of oil and thus not his to transfer to the ANC. By acting as he did Majali invited the deduction that he was using public money to ingratiate himself with the ANC leadership.

At about the same time Majali was implicated in sanctions-breaking in a UN investigation into the oil-for-food programme in Iraq.

The programme was initiated to prevent its innocent Iraqi citizens from having to bear the full brunt of the sanctions imposed on the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein for transgressing international law by invading Kuwait and violating the human rights of his own subjects.

It was abused by many unscrupulous entrepreneurs around the world who paid a surcharge on the oil into a special bank account controlled by the Saddam Hussein's oppressive regime. One of those who suspected of doing so, according the UN investigation, was Majali.

According to a report by the South African Press Association, Saddam Hussein and his lieutenants managed to accumulate nearly R14-billion from surcharges and kickbacks on oil sales. All payments for Iraqi oil should have been paid to a special UN-controlled account for distribution to approved non-government organisations committed to helping the poor and the dispossessed.

The UN inquiry put the value of the surcharge paid to Saddam Hussein's regime by Imvume at $60,000. It might be noted that Majali was accompanied on that trip by Kgalema Motlanthe, who is today the Deputy President of the ANC and of South Africa. At the time he was the ANC's secretary-general.

Motlanthe's presence there raised the question of whether it meant that he knew about and condoned the payment reportedly made by Majali.

President Thabo Mbeki appointed a commission led by Advocate Michael Donen to conduct an investigation to establish whether the UN suspicions about Majali having paid the surcharge were justified. Donen's report was never officially released to the public, though a copy was leaked to the Sunday Times last year.

According to the Sunday Times Donen reported that the breaking of UN sanctions was not an issue that was covered in South African law. The deficiency presumably meant that Majali could not be indicted in South Africa even though South Africa was one of the original founder members of the UN.

Aside from his dubious role in Iraq and in forwarding public money to the ANC, Majali needs to explain why his company New Era Life was placed under the control of curators in July 2009 on the orders of the Financial Service Board (FSB)

He needs, furthermore, to explain why the FSB accused him of lying, fraud and theft and why - to quote an article in the Mail & Guardian - he ceded about R43-million in New Era assets to settling a "ballooning" overdraft with Absa bank. Beyond that he needs to explain why he surreptitiously liquidated his Imvume company late last year and why he then lodged a R25-million claim on the Imvume estate.

Without prejudging the verdict in his pending indictment on charges of fraud, it is legitimate to conclude that Majali is encumbered by his past.

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