Trial Report: Eighteen

This report covers the period 27 March - 31 March 2000

Cross examination of banker, Samuel Bosch continued on Monday 27 March. As in previous cross examination, the defence counsel for Dr. Basson put it to the court that American attorney, David Webster was the beneficiary and client referred to in the case of the Merton House development. The defence counsel put it to the witness that Bosch was merely under the impression that Basson was the boss of the Wisdom group because of the nature of his relationship with Philip Mijburgh and Wynand Swanepoel, the nature of that relationship having been determined by Basson's position as head of Project Coast. The real boss(es) of the group remain unnamed.

As in previous cross examination, reference was made to Basson's contacts in East Germany and Libya. Yusaf Murgham was mentioned as being Basson's chief contact in Libya. According to the defence Murgham was a senior intelligence agent of that country. Adv. Cilliers told the court that he intended screening video footage of Yusaf Murgham in the company of former President Mandela in order for Bosch to be able to positively identify him. The video footage was not screened nor mentioned again during the cross examination.

Adv. Cilliers claimed that the cash withdrawals from the account of Regent International Trading Services in the name of Basson, referred to in previous weekly reports, were for payments to people at the Libyan embassy in Namibia. The court heard from Adv. Cilliers that Basson flew to Namibia to make payments to Libyan agents and to meet with East German agents. This trip took place on Wednesday, January 22 1997, (as confirmed by Bosch who accompanied Basson and Philip Mijburgh on the trip). This was a week before Basson was arrested by the South African Narcotics Bureau, at a time when Basson had already been employed at 1 Military Hospital for over year and had allegedly cut all ties with Project Coast. According to evidence given earlier by Grant Wentzel the arresting officers, the request for 2 000 Ecstasy capsules was made by Wentzel to Basson on Tuesday, January 21. At the time Basson allegedly told Wentzel it was a large order and he'd get back to him. The trip to Namibia took place during the process of this alleged drug deal. Bosch testified that he was not aware that Basson had met with Libyan or East German agents but that he had been aware that Basson had met with Dr. David Chu.

During continued cross examination on Wednesday 29 March the defence counsel put it to Bosch that when the blue trunks containing documents that had been delivered to his home for safe keeping in April 1995 by Philip Mijburgh, Basson had been on an extended trip to Libya. This concluded the cross examination of Bosch and the following witness, Petrus Troskie, senior manager, foreign exchange, Reserve Bank was called to give evidence.

Troskie's evidence centered on the international transactions made and was very technical. It however emerged during his evidence on Thursday 30 March that Justice Hartzenberg had gained the impression that the, so far unnamed, principles referred to by the defence during the cross examination of witnesses is the Defence Force. No evidence has been led to this effect.

31 Friday March 2001

The first High Court term of 2000 ended on Friday 31 March with defence advocate Tokkie van Zyl conducting brief cross-examination of Reserve Bank foreign exchange manager Petrus Troskie.

Troskie reaffirmed that South African citizens were barred from owning any foreign assets until 1997, the sole exception being inheritances. Not even a trust which existed in name only, i.e. had no actual financial assets, could be established without prior Reserve Bank approval. Troskie also confirmed that during the sanctions era, takeovers of local companies by foreign interests would first be referred to, for example, the SA Defence Force, if the local company was known to be a supplier of strategic/military goods.

The April 1987 capital investment by WPW Investments Inc in the company Systems Research and Development was supported, according to Reserve Bank records, by an (unsigned) letter from former SADF surgeon-general, Lt-Genl Nico Nieuwoudt, which states that he has no objection to the investment.

The court will resume on Tuesday, May 2, when Dr Torie Pretorius will present the first of about 30 witnesses on the human rights violations/murder charges. Meanwhile, prosecutor on the fraud charges, Anton Ackerman will prepare the application he has to bring before Judge Willie Hartzenberg to travel abroad to get the testimony of David Webster, Roger Buffham, Bernard Zimmer, David Chu and others on record.

When court resumes on May 2, Pretorius will present witnesses who have never before testified to their involvement with the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB) or its declared objective of eliminating enemies of the apartheid state. The evidence will be crucial, not only in the case against Basson, but also in answering some of the questions that were not addressed by the 1990 Harms Commission of inquiry and various other investigations launched since. Most of the witnesses to be called are not identified on the official witness list, but they will include operators implicated in the indictment and further particulars of the case against Basson in the murder/conspiracy to murder various activists and members of the security forces who presented a risk of exposure.

This report has been prepared by Chandr� Gould and Marlene Burger. Chandr� Gould is a research associate at the Centre for Conflict Resolution working on the Chemical and Biological Warfare Research Project. Marlene Burger is monitoring the trial as part of the CCR Chemical and Biological Warfare Research Project. The Chemical and Biological Warfare Research Project is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the Norwegian Government

Centre for Conflict Resolution, UCT, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa Tel: (27) 21-4222512 Fax: (27) 21-4222622 Email: [email protected]