Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Sake24 has confidentially learned that the Reserve Bank is looking into a possible contravention of exchange-control regulations by Christo Wiese.
However, on Friday the bank declined to confirm or deny this, but in a statement it said that it had taken note of the situation.
The legal team of Wiese, chairperson of Shoprite Holdings [JSE:SHP] and other JSE-listed companies, will appeal the decision by the Westminster Magistrate’s Office in Britain that he should forfeit the £675 000 (about R6.9m) in cash that he was carrying on April 22 last year when about to fly from London to Luxembourg.
On Friday Wiese, who is currently overseas, told Sake24 that he and his South African legal team had not yet had sight of the judgment but, even before the decision, they had decided to lodge an appeal if the judgment went against him. Wiese was given 30 days to lodge an appeal.
He said that as far as he could determine, the judgment against him was of an administrative nature and that he had not been guilty of a criminal offence.
The case arises from a incident at the London City airport on April 27 2009 when customs officers discovered £120 000 in £20 and £50 notes in Wiese’s hand luggage and a further £400 000 to £500 000, according to his own statement.
The British Home Office said customs officers had the right to seize cash they suspected might have arisen from criminal activity or be used to that end.
Every person entering or leaving Britain with more than £1 000 in cash can be requested by border officials to produce proof of its source, as well as the purpose for which it is intended.
According to a statement by the British Home Office, at the airport Wiese said that he intended depositing the money in a bank in Luxembourg and that it was money that he had taken out of South Africa in the form of travellers cheques in order sidestep exchange-control regulations.
- Sake24
For business news in Afrikaans, go to www.sake24.com.
However, on Friday the bank declined to confirm or deny this, but in a statement it said that it had taken note of the situation.
The legal team of Wiese, chairperson of Shoprite Holdings [JSE:SHP] and other JSE-listed companies, will appeal the decision by the Westminster Magistrate’s Office in Britain that he should forfeit the £675 000 (about R6.9m) in cash that he was carrying on April 22 last year when about to fly from London to Luxembourg.
On Friday Wiese, who is currently overseas, told Sake24 that he and his South African legal team had not yet had sight of the judgment but, even before the decision, they had decided to lodge an appeal if the judgment went against him. Wiese was given 30 days to lodge an appeal.
He said that as far as he could determine, the judgment against him was of an administrative nature and that he had not been guilty of a criminal offence.
The case arises from a incident at the London City airport on April 27 2009 when customs officers discovered £120 000 in £20 and £50 notes in Wiese’s hand luggage and a further £400 000 to £500 000, according to his own statement.
The British Home Office said customs officers had the right to seize cash they suspected might have arisen from criminal activity or be used to that end.
Every person entering or leaving Britain with more than £1 000 in cash can be requested by border officials to produce proof of its source, as well as the purpose for which it is intended.
According to a statement by the British Home Office, at the airport Wiese said that he intended depositing the money in a bank in Luxembourg and that it was money that he had taken out of South Africa in the form of travellers cheques in order sidestep exchange-control regulations.
- Sake24
For business news in Afrikaans, go to www.sake24.com.
