Johannesburg - The National Prosecuting Authority is facing another headache on the heels of senior prosecutor Glynnis Breytenbach’s acquittal.
Well-respected Joburg advocate Mike Hellens SC intends to sue the prosecuting authority, Imperial Crown Trading (ICT), the company’s lawyer, Ronnie Mendelow, and their counsel, Edmond Wessels, saying they had suggested that he and Breytenbach had had an affair.
“I am a happily married man with a wife, but of course she understands that it’s politics,” he said on Tuesday.
At the core of the NPA’s case against Breytenbach during her disciplinary hearing was the allegation that she and Hellens had an improper relationship.
“They said I had an unnaturally close relationship with her. That suggested that I had an affair with her. I have never had an affair with Glynnis. I have known her for probably 25 years,” Hellens said.
He added this was not only at a professional level, but took in his wife, family as well as friends.
Hellens warned that those who made the allegation about him would pay a big price.
“The makers of those allegations will regret those allegations through their chequebooks,”
he said.
The NPA said Breytenbach had failed to act impartially when investigating the Kumba Iron Ore/Sishen and ICT mining rights issue.
Hellens represented Sishen in the matter.
Breytenbach was suspended from the NPA in April last year, but on Monday, the prosecuting authority’s disciplinary committee cleared her on all 15 charges.
Hellens told The Star on Tuesday that he had been vindicated too.
At the hearing, Breytenbach denied an inappropriate relationship with Hellens, who she said she had known for more than two decades.
She had always maintained that the allegations against her were baseless.
Mendelow had lodged a complaint against Breytenbach with the NPA, accusing her of showing bias towards his client’s rival, Kumba Iron Ore subsidiary, Sishen Iron Ore.
Mendelow claimed in his October 2011 complaint to the NPA that Breytenbach had “engaged” Sishen’s legal counsel, Hellens, in drafting various affidavits. He claimed this showed bias.
“If you are being accused of acting improperly, there is no way such allegations won’t affect your career,” said Hellens.
In reaction to the judgment,
he said he hoped this would lead the NPA to a realisation that their job was to “objectively prosecute”.
“I hope they have learnt their lesson,” Hellens said.
The case against Breytenbach was based almost entirely on Mendelow’s complaint.
The NPA accused her of abusing her authority as a prosecutor.
Acquitting Breytenbach on Monday, chairman of the disciplinary hearing Selby Mbenenge SC said there was not an iota of evidence that she had exerted influence on the director of Imperial Crown Trading, Archie Luhlabo, indirectly through Hellens.
Breytenbach claimed in her defence during the disciplinary hearing that the charges were brought against her to stop her from prosecuting former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli on fraud and other charges.
Hellens said the conduct of the NPA suggested there had been external political interference. He said the allegations against him and Breytenbach were meant to tarnish their images.
Meanwhile, the NPA said on Monday night the inquiry’s findings were “factually incorrect and legally unsustainable”.
It said it would ask the court to review and set aside the findings and replace them with a finding of guilty against Breytenbach.
The Star