Selebi appeal: State must recover costs now

"The fact that Selebi's appeal has failed demands that the state has to act now to ensure that the R17,4 million which taxpayers had to fork out for his legal fees, can be recovered. Although Selebi can still turn to the Constitutional Court , the chances are small that he will be successful and the state has to do everything possible to recover the maximum amount from the R17,4 million in legal fees," Mr. Pieter Groenewald, chief spokesperson on Police for the Freedom Front Plus said.

"In Selebi's High Court case, it appeared that Selebi's assets amounted to R3,4 million. The Asset Forfeiture Unit could only attach R320 722. This shows a loss of R14,7 million for taxpayers. The question arises where Selebi gets the money from for an appeal case and then possibly for a Constitutional case also. The state will have to incisively look at the criteria when taxpayer's money is used for legal fees of officials. Guarantees should be given beforehand otherwise it boils down to wasting of tax payers' money if the costs cannot be recovered," Groenewald said.

Statemetn issued by Mr. Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus Chief Spokesperson: Police, December 2 2011

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